A locking system for use with a wheeled vehicle such as a bicycle is described. The system is useful either to lockingly secure a wheel to the fork members of a bicycle or to lockingly secure the seat post to the center frame member. The locking member is cylindrical in shape and covers a specially configured nut that replaces the usual lever operated nut used with a spindled axle system.

The wheels of a wheeled vehicle such as a bicycle are ordinarily secured to the bicycle by either hexagonal shaped nuts or in the more recent bicycles by a lever actuated securing means such that the wheel can be readily removed. In the case of the hexagonal nut one merely needs an adjustable wrench to quickly remove either the front or the back wheel for whatever purpose. In a similar manner bicycle seats, which in recent years have become relatively expensive, can likewise be removed by the use of an adjustable wrench loosening the hexagonal nut that ordinarily is used to retain the seat post in the center frame member of the bicycle.
As a consequence to prevent theft it has become rather ordinary for the bicyclist to remove the wheel and the seat, usually the front wheel, and then lock the front and back wheels with the bicycle to some permanently fixed post or the like. The seat, which is difficult to lock with the wheels, is generally carried with the bicyclist. Upon return the bicyclist the must then reassemble his or her bicycle before proceeding.
The lever actuated systems, that for years have been used by bicycle road racers, ease the chore of removing the wheels from the bicycle however, it is also eases the tasks of the thief should the wheel not be removed. Because of the upsurge in thefts of bicycle seats, similar lever actuated devices are now used on bicycle seats so that the seat may be removed upon parking the bicycle.
The lever mechanism to release the wheel from the frame in the conventional situation includes an eccentric cylinder acting as a cam and rotatable by crank arm which, when actuated, serves to move a spindle laterally through the axle of the wheel such that with the crank arm or lever in one position the wheel is secured to the fork while rotation of the lever 90.degree. will move the spindle so that the wheel is free to be removed from the forks. Such a device is well-known in the art and will not be further described herein.
In recent years devices have appeared in the market which serve to lock the lever arm in its clamped position so that it cannot be rotated to release the wheel from the bicycle. These devices fall into two categories. The first category includes those devices that either insert a pin to prevent rotation or that disengage the lever arm from the spindle. Such devices are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,692 issued on Feb. 16, 1988. In the second type of structure, a cover or the like is locked to the axle of the bicycle so that the lever is not accessible or cannot be turned by the prospective thief. This type of device is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,915.
In both these types of systems a rather cumbersome addition must be made to the wheel which not only increases the weight of the bicycle but also provides an additional snagging point should the bicycle be operated to close to some other device.
Further, there apparently have been no locking devices that have been in the marketplace to secure the bicycle seat to the frame of the bicycle. Possibly this is because bicycle seats have just recently increased in price.
Accordingly, this invention provides a system which is adaptable either to secure both the front and the rear wheel to a bicycle frame at the front or rear forks or which is adaptable to secure the seat post to the center frame bifurcated member.
It is an object of this invention to provide a lightweight simple to operate locking system for securing a removable component to a bifurcated portion of a wheeled vehicle.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide a locking system to secure a wheel to one or the other or both forks of a bicycle.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a locking system to secure a seat and seat post to the center frame member of a bicycle.


An apparatus for surface treatment of articles comprises a plurality of trays (4) each carrying one or more piece-holding spindles (3). A primary transport assembly (19) removably engages the trays (4) to transfer them according to a step-by-step motion between a plurality of stopping locations (A . . . J) distributed along the movement path (P), along which respective work stations (12, 13, 14, 15) operate. At least one additional transport assembly (31a, 31b) withdraws each tray (4) from the primary transport assembly (19) at one of said stopping locations (A . . . J), for moving it at one of said work stations (12, 13, 14, 15), and engaging it again with the primary transport assembly (19).

The degree of finishing required may require different surface treatments, depending on the type of finishing desired. For example, when a painting process is adopted it is normally required that each article being processed, generally of plastic material, is initially subjected to preparation by means of cleaning, possible activation by means of the corona effect, application of a primer and/or base coating, deposition of a pigmented layer, and deposition of a transparent protective finishing (top coating). The applications of the base layer, of the pigmented coating and of the protective finishing are each followed by a drying treatment, for example by infrared and/or UV irradiation.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,487,857, on behalf of the same Applicant, describes an article painting machine, each arranged on a piece-holding spindle. The piece-holding spindles are grouped together on respective trays that advance along a supply line. Adjacent to the supply line is a rotating platform provided with a plurality of seats distributed circumferentially around its own rotation axis. Transfer members lend themselves to withdrawing each piece-holding spindle from the respective tray arranged along a supply line, to place it in one of the seats and vice versa. Due to the rotation of the platform, the articles carried by the piece-holding spindles transit sequentially through various work stations, including a painting station at which actuation means are installed operating on the piece-holding spindle to determine the rotation of the article to be painted around the axis thereof.
The Applicant believes that the current equipment for surface treatment of articles can be improved in terms of operating flexibility and setting simplicity for the purposes of execution of different processing operations from time to time. In particular, it has been observed that at the current state of the art it is difficult to find the right compromise between the needs in process in the different work stations. In fact, adapting the execution of the work cycle in a specific work station affects the processing in all the other work stations.
Particular difficulties are also encountered in the correct execution of the painting or other surface finishing treatment of articles having an uneven conformation around their own rotation axis, for example with a rectangular, elliptical, or with a complex conformation base with one or more undercuts.
The Applicant has in fact observed that in order to meet the needs of the market, tending to a progressive increase in the quality standards of the final product, it is important that each operation executed along the movement path is carried out according to specific parameters. These parameters may vary from time to time depending on different factors that are not always easily predictable and/or controllable, such as for example the materials with which the articles being processed are made, their geometric and dimensional characteristics, the physical surface characteristics, the paints used, the environmental conditions in which the process takes place.
Furthermore, the process specifications required by each operation may be different from those required for another processing.

Apparatus for surface treatment of articles, and treatment process feasible by said apparatus


The present invention is directed toward a computer implemented method and device for configuring a user agent (e.g., a web browser) to act as a web server, and host services to be available to the end users of other user agents (e.g., web browsers) acting as clients. Such services may be provided by executing web widgets written in a scripting language, or provided as simple HTML services. The present invention further provides various techniques (e.g., Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal) for allowing requests for a service to pass to the user agent acting as a server, by making such requests appear to a firewall as responses to an initial request made by the user agent.

Computer users typically use user agent applications such as web browsers to access documents and other resources that are available over a computer network, e.g., the World Wide Web. Resources available on the World Wide Web (also referred to simply as "the Web") are generally stored in documents called web pages. Such web pages are identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), usually a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which identifies the web page uniquely and provides the information necessary for locating and accessing the web page.
A web browser is a computer program that, when executed on a client computer, enables the client computer to read and display web pages. A web browser includes a user interface component for addressing a particular server on a network, and designating a particular document (e.g., a Web page) to be obtained from the addressed server. Using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a Web browser may fetch the designated documents from the server. Also, a Web browser includes a component for displaying the content of Web pages.
Web pages may be stored on a component connected to the network (e.g., the Web), which is called a web server. Generally, a web server receives and responds to HTTP requests from a user agent or web browser. There are existing methods for configuring a particular user agent on a client computer to operate as a web server for receiving and responding to HTTP requests from other user agents. However, when a user agent runs as a web server, it is necessary to provide information regarding which information or services can be accessed from that web server and how they can be accessed. Additionally, when a user runs a web server in a home network, the network typically includes a device that acts as a firewall, and/or Network Address Translation (NAT) device, that needs to be configured separately. Typically, the user will need to open ports and enable port forwarding to a local computer in order for people outside the firewall to be able to access the server. Consequently, even if a user is able to provide content from a web server that runs as part of his or her browser application, there is currently no way to avoid considerable configuration tasks.
Consequently, it would be advantageous to reduce or eliminate the configuration tasks that otherwise must be performed in order to give other users access to shared content or services, and to make this content or these services visible or discoverable to those other users.

Method and device for configuring a user agent to operate as a web server


This application provides a communication method and a communications apparatus and system, to help improve transmission reliability. One method includes: obtaining, by a terminal device, a configuration parameter comprising a channel state information (CSI) process feature; and in response to determining that the CSI process feature indicates that further enhancements to coordinated multi-point (FeCoMP) CSI is enabled, sending, by the terminal device uplink control information on a physical uplink channel without sending uplink data on the physical uplink channel.

In coordinated multipoint (Coordinated Multiple Point, CoMP) transmission, to obtain better signal receiving quality, a transmit end device may reduce interference between a plurality of transmission points by using a precoding technology. The transmit end device may determine, based on channel state information (channel state information, CSI) obtained by a receive end device through channel measurement, a precoding matrix adapted to a channel status, and may further precode a to-be-sent signal based on the determined precoding matrix.
In some communications systems, a network device may configure a plurality of channel state information-reference signal (CSI reference signal, CSI-RS) resources to perform channel measurement. For example, in a further enhancements to coordinated multi-point (further enhanced CoMP, FeCoMP) transmission system, the network device may configure two CSI-RS resources and one channel state information-interference measurement (CSI interference measurement, CSI-IM) resource in one CSI process (process). A terminal device may perform channel measurement based on one CSI-RS resource, to feed back one piece of CSI, or may perform channel measurement based on two CSI-RS resources, to feed back two pieces of CSI, where each piece of CSI may be obtained through measurement based on the two CSI-RS resources. In the two cases, sizes of resources required by the terminal device to feed back CSI may be different. In addition, on some physical uplink channels, for example, a physical uplink shared channel (physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH), when resources are sufficient, the terminal device may send the CSI and data together.
Because content to be sent by the terminal device on a physical uplink channel is uncertain, the network device may not be able to correctly receive a signal sent by the terminal device on the physical uplink channel. Therefore, transmission reliability is not high.

Communication method and communications apparatus and system


Provided is an illumination control system including: an image capturing unit capturing an image in real time; a motion sensing unit sensing motion in the image and generating a notification; a communication unit receiving the image and the notification for transmission to outside, and receiving a control signal; a control unit receiving information on the image and the notification through the communication unit, analyzing the information, and transmitting the control signal for control; a light unit connected to the communication unit so that lights are controlled through the control signal; and a storage unit storing the information.

In general, a light device installed in a relatively large place is automatically turned on only at night using a photoconductive element, such as a cadmium sulfide (CdS) cell, etc.
Such a method of turning on or off the light device by simply using the photoconductive element, such as the CdS cell, etc., controls the turning on and the turning off of the light device depending on day and night, but even when there is no moving object nearby, for example, motion of a person or a vehicle, all lamps of the light device remain always turned on at night, resulting in waste of power.
In addition, illuminances partially differ even in the same place, making the eyes of a person in the place feel more fatigued.


A backlight assembly includes first LED packages, second LED packages, a light guide plate, a printed circuit board, and a light blocking member. Each of the first LED packages emits light of a first color. Each of the second LED packages emits light of a second color different from the first color. The first and the second LED packages are provided in the same number and alternately arranged with each other. The light guide plate receives an incident light from the first and the second LED packages to output an emission light, and the first and second LED packages are mounted on the printed circuit board. In addition, the light blocking member blocks the light generated from one of the first LED packages, which is located at an outermost portion of the printed circuit board, and travelling to the light guide plate.

1. Field of Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a backlight assembly and a display apparatus having the same. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a backlight assembly employing a light emitting diode package as its light source and a display apparatus having the backlight assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a display apparatus, which is not self-emissive, e.g., a liquid crystal display, includes a backlight assembly that generates light and a display panel that displays an image using the light. The backlight assembly includes a light source that receives a source voltage from an external source and emits the light. As the light source, a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) or a light emitting diode (LED) package is widely used. In recent years, the CCFL is replaced with the LED package since the LED package has advantages of low power consumption, high brightness, etc.
Meanwhile, in a case that the backlight assembly includes two or more LED packages generating different color lights and a printed circuit board on which the LED packages are mounted to realize a white light, a display quality of the display apparatus depends on the arrangement of the LED packages on the printed circuit board. For instance, as a distance between the LED packages increases, a color stain occurs since the different color lights are not sufficiently mixed with each other. In addition, when the LED packages, which generate the light in a specific color, are arranged to correspond to an edge portion of a display area of the display panel, a dark area appears in the edge portion.

Backlight assembly and display apparatus having the same


A compact cooling method and apparatus arranged for simultaneously drawing heat from both a processor and from the voltage regulator. The invention provides for advantageous arrangement of the voltage regulator and memory proximate to the processor for high speed operation. The invention includes a processor requiring at least one bias voltage, and further includes a companion voltage regulator for providing the bias voltage. The voltage regulator is arranged sufficiently proximate to the processor, so as to limit inductance of electrical coupling therebetween.

Operation of high speed electronic components produces unwanted heat. For example, high speed computer processor elements such as microprocessors, graphics processors and the like generate unwanted heat that must be removed for efficient operation. Heat removal provides for a lower operating temperature, higher operating speeds and greater computing power. Additional advantages include higher reliability and availability.
To meet ever higher requirements for computing power, processor designs continue to evolve, becoming more complex and operating at ever higher speeds. More complex designs integrate greater and greater numbers of transistors, which each contribute to generation of more heat during operation. As each transistor is operated at higher speeds, heat generation is further increased.
Various cooling schemes are known in the prior art. In general, as cooling schemes become more efficient at removing heat, mechanisms to implement the schemes become larger, heavier, bulkier and more difficult to arrange in computer systems.
While high speed computer systems are blessed with tremendous computing power, they are also twice cursed: first they are cursed with the demanding cooling requirement of the high speed processors; and second they are cursed with even more demanding requirements for one or more specialized companion voltage regulators and high speed memories carefully arranged proximate to the high speed processors.
In some processor cooling schemes of the prior art, the bulky mechanisms for implementing the schemes interfere with advantageous arrangement and placement of the companion voltage regulator and memory for highest possible operating speed. For example, such bulky mechanisms have interfered when designers have pursued a substantially co-planar arrangement of the processor and voltage regulator extending across the surface of a motherboard. This problem is exacerbated by the introduction of additional bulky mechanisms for cooling the voltage regulator.
What is needed is an efficient and compact cooling method and apparatus arranged for simultaneously drawing heat from both a processor and from the voltage regulator, while still providing for advantageous arrangement of the voltage regulator and memory proximate to the processor for high speed operation.

Cold plate arrangement for cooling processor and companion voltage regulator


The present invention relates to a mechanical operating assembly for a bistable relay and a bistable relay assembly. The mechanical operating assembly comprises: an actuating mechanism mounted to a bracket, including an actuating member and a first transmitting member which is connected to a paddle, the actuating member is movable between an initial position in which the actuating member is not in contact with the first transmitting member and an actuating position, when the actuating member moves from the initial position to the actuating position, the actuating member contacts the first transmitting member; a reset mechanism mounted to the bracket, including a reset member and a second transmitting member which is in contact with the first transmitting member, the reset member is movable between an initial position and a reset position, the reset member contacts the second transmitting member when moving from the initial position to the reset position.

In electronic thermal protection relays, bistable relays are required to switch signals. In working state, the switching of the bistable relay is controlled by electronic signals, but when the product needs to be tested for wiring, or the product has tripped and needs to be reset manually, the action of the bistable relay needs to be controlled through a mechanical connection.

Mechanical operating assembly for a bistable relay and a bistable relay assembly


Process for preparing .alpha.-arylpropionic acids by catalytically asymmetrically hydrogenating .alpha.-arylpropenoic acids utilizing an asymmetric hydrogenation catalyst at low temperatures and, optionally, at high pressures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improved asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of .alpha.-arylpropenoic acids to yield the corresponding .alpha.-arylpropionic acid in high enantiomeric excess. More particularly, the present invention relates to asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of .alpha.-arylpropenoic acids utilizing asymmetric hydrogenation catalysts under conditions of low temperature and, optionally, high pressure. The improved asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation process of the present invention is particularly suited for use in the synthesis of naproxen. Accordingly, the present invention more particularly relates to a novel synthetic route for preparing 2-(6'-methoxy-2'-naphthyl) propionic acid (naproxen) and to intermediates prepared and utilized in such synthetic route.
2. Prior Art
Naproxen is a nonsteroidal compound having anti-inflammatory, nonnarcotic analgesic and antipyretic activities. It belongs to a group of compounds, generally classified as arylpropionic acids or arylalkanoic acids, which group includes naproxen, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, fenoprofen, suprofen, flurbiprofen, benoxaprofen, pirprofen and carprofen. Each of the compounds of this group are related in that they are propionic acid derivatives.
Many synthetic routes for producing arylpropionic acids and, in particular, naproxen have been proposed. The first synthetic routes produced a mixture of optical isomers or enantiomorphs. Thus, such routes required resolution of the mixture to obtain the more active isomer, such as with cinchonidine or glucamine. These resolution procedures, however, require numerous re crystallizations and are, therefore, not commercially attractive.
More recently, attempts have been made for preparing the pharmaceutically useful optical isomer in excess of the physiologically inactive isomer so that the resolution procedure could be simplified. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,237 discloses a process for preparing .alpha.-arylpropionic acids and, in particular, a process for preparing naproxen, which involves a noncatalytic rearrangement of a ketal or thioketal of 2-hydroxy-1-(6'-methoxy-2'-naphthyl)propan-1-one by activating the .alpha.-hydroxy moiety with an esterifying agent to form the corresponding alkyl aryl ketal or thioketal ester substrate. Concomitant or sequential hydrolysis of the ester produces the corresponding arylpropionic acid, 2-(6'-methoxy-2'-naphthyl)propionic acid. See also Piccolo et al, J. Org. Chem. 52, 10-14 (1987), and references cited therein. In the majority of cases, however, production of the desired isomer in enantiomeric excess has been limited and numerous recrystallizations are still required.
Asymmetric hydrogenation of arylpropenoic acids has been previously proposed as a method of further increasing the enantiomeric excess of the desired isomer. However, these procedures have had limited success in producing the desired optical isomer in enantiomeric excess sufficient to significantly simplify the resolution procedures. For example, Campolmi et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,914 discloses catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of 2-(6'-methoxy-2'-naphthyl)propenoic acid utilizing a chiral bidentate phosphine complex. Preferred compounds include 1,2-ethanediylbis(o-methoxyphenyl)phenylphosphine (DIPAMP), [2,3-0-isopropylidene-2, 3dihydroxy-1,4-bis(diphenylphosphine)butane] (DIOP) and N,N'-bis-((+)-.alpha.-methylbenzyl)-N,N'-bis-(diphenylphosphine)ethylenedi amine (PNNP). The catalytic asymmetric hydrogenations are conducted with a DIOP catalyst at a temperature of 25.degree. C. and at H.sub.2 pressures of 1 and 3.5 atmospheres (.about.15 p.s.i. and .about.52 p.s.i., respectively) and at 50.degree. C. and 3.5 atmospheres. Such a hydrogenation is also conducted with a PNNP catalyst at 20.degree. C. and 1 atm. Enantiomeric excess (e.e.) of the desired product is reported to be about 70% or less.
Although Campolmi et al disclose that the hydrogenation can be conducted at temperatures of between 0.degree. C. and 70.degree. C. and at pressures of between 1 and 50 atmospheres, it is reported in Asymmetric Catalysis, NATO ASI Series, Series E: Applied Sciences, pp. 24-26, B. Bosnich Editor, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (1986) that in general catalytic asymmetric hydrogenations conducted at temperatures of less than about 25.degree. C. and/or at pressures greater than about 15 psig H.sub.2 result in decreased e.e.'s. See also Asymmetric Synthesis, Vol. 5--"Chiral Catalyst", pp. 60-62, J. D. Morrison, Editor, Academic Press, Inc. (1985).
It has now been discovered, contrary to the above teachings, that conducting asymmetric catalytic hydrogenations at temperatures below about 15.degree. C. and, optionally, at H.sub.2 pressures greater than about 5 atmospheres, (.about.75 psig) results in higher e.e.'s of the desired product such that resolution of the resulting optical isomer mixture is significantly simplified.
For example, Noyori et al, J. Org. Chem. 52, 3174-76 (1987), disclose asymmetric hydrogenation of 2-(6'-methoxy-2'-naphthyl)propenoic acid with a catalytic amount of Ru[(S)-2,2'-bis(diphenylphophino)1,1'-binaphthyl](CH.sub.3 CO.sub.2).sub.2 at about 2000 psig H.sub.2 and apparently, although not clearly, at 15.degree.-30.degree. C. to afford naproxen. However, it has now been discovered that utilizing this same catalyst at temperatures below about 15.degree. C. and, optionally, at high H.sub.2 pressures, significantly increases the enantiomeric excess of the desired isomer.

Asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of .alpha.-arylpropenic acids


Plural nozzle arrays of which each comprises plural nozzle holes (247a) from which ink is ejected are arranged slantingly in a main scanning direction. A distance between a first arbitrary nozzle hole (247a-1) and a second nozzle hole (247a-2), in a nozzle array adjacent to the array to which this first nozzle hole (247a-1) belongs, which is adjacent to the first nozzle hole (247a-1), and a distance between the first nozzle hole (247a-1) and a third nozzle hole (247a-3), in the nozzle array to which the second nozzle hole (247a-2) belongs, which is further adjacent to the first nozzle hole (247a-1) are different from each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an alignment method of nozzle heads, a line head, and an ink jet recording apparatus mounted with its line head.
2. Description of Related Art
An effective measure for speed-up of a printing speed in an ink jet recording apparatus is to provide a line head having a length of a printed width region (for example, width of A4). However, at present when printing of 1200 to 4800 dpi resolution becomes the main current, it is very difficult to arrange nozzle holes at the necessary pitch throughout the length of the printed width region. Namely, in case of a line head having the length of A4 width (210 mm), the number of printing pins per color is over several thousand. Therefore, integration of all or integration of only a nozzle plate, taking into account the possibility that bad printing is produced, is not efficient.
Therefore, a line head has been proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent No. 3302785, in which nozzle heads each having the comparatively small area at hundreds pin-levels are combined and arranged.
In Japanese Patent No. 3302785, technology that nozzle holes are gathered in such a line head has been disclosed. Specifically, an ink jet recording apparatus has been disclosed, which is a full-line type recording apparatus that has plural ink jet recording head units having plural recording elements and plural ink ejection ports arranged in at least one row correspondingly to the recording elements, and in which the ejection ports of the plural ink jet recording heads are arranged throughout the entire width of a recording region of a recorded medium. This ink jet recording apparatus includes a common ink jet recording unit holding means which detachably holds the plural ink jet recording heads. The plural ink jet recording head units tilt at a predetermined angle relative to a transporting direction of the recording medium. Further, on the common ink jet recording head unit holding means, its attachment surface of the ink jet recording head unit is practically formed stepwise. The ink jet recording head units are attached on the stepwise attachment surface of the common ink jet recording head unit holding means from the same direction, and the ink ejection port located in the same position of each ink jet recording unit is positioned and held on a straight line that is orthogonal to the transporting direction of the recording medium.
Here, the main current of the present ink jet is a face shoot type. However, the proposed line heads are almost an edge shoot type in which a nozzle plate is elongated. This is because nozzle density viewed from a nozzle surface can be made large in the edge shoot type.
Regarding the nozzle density, not only the nozzle holes on the nozzle surface are taken into consideration but also an energy generating source, a flowing path, a mounting part, an ink supply part, distance from an edge of the nozzle plate to the nozzle hole, all the parts must be efficiently combined, unless the nozzle density, that is, resolution cannot be improved.
However, the edge shoot type, since the number of dimensions requiring accuracy becomes large due to its structure, requires a high level of accuracy in the manufacture of the head. Further, since only one array of nozzle holes can be basically arranged, in a case where a minimum necessary distance from the nozzle plate edge to the nozzle hole is secured, the nozzle density is not always increased.
Namely, in a case where the width of the nozzle plate is narrowed and the distance from the edge of the nozzle plate to the nozzle hole is shortened in order to increase the nozzle density when the line head is used, not only is a purge cap for preventing clogging of the nozzle hole difficult to place, but also the nozzle plate becomes elongated thereby readily causing warping. Further, in a case where the nozzle plate is formed long thereby to increase the number of the nozzle holes arranged in one row in order to increase the nozzle density, not only the warp is easy to be produced since the nozzle plate becomes long, but also an influence of pitch shift is great due to the long plate.

Nozzle head, line head using the same, and ink jet recording apparatus mounted with its line head


A power conversion system includes a photovoltaic source to generate direct current (DC) power; a direct current (DC) to an alternating current (AC) single stage inverter to convert the direct current (DC) power from the photovoltaic source to alternating current (AC) power for delivery to a power grid, and a load balancing unit coupled to the single stage inverter. The power conversion system also includes a controller configured to determine a maximum power point for the power conversion system, regulate an output voltage of the single stage inverter, compute a power balance difference between a power demand from the power grid and an output power of the single stage inverter obtainable at the maximum power point and control in real-time the load balancing unit based on the power balance difference.

The invention relates generally to power conversion, and, more specifically, to a single stage power conversion system.
With the rising cost and scarcity of conventional energy sources and concerns about the environment, there is a significant interest in alternative energy sources such as solar power and wind power. Solar power generation uses photovoltaic sources to generate electricity from the sun. Multiple photovoltaic sources are electrically coupled to one another in such systems. The electricity generated by photovoltaic sources is transmitted to the power grid through one or more power electronic converters. The power electronic converters are commonly classified as dual stage converters and single stage converters depending on the number of stages employed to convert direct current power to alternating current power.
Conventional single stage power conversion systems include a single stage converter connected to a controller that implements a maximum power point (MPP) algorithm to transmit maximum alternating power to the power grid from the single stage converter. Typically, a single stage power conversion system is controlled such that its performance can be compared to a stiff current source. In such current-stiff embodiments, the controller ensures that a direct current voltage, hereinafter DC voltage, is held at a desired value by guaranteeing that the power injected in the power grid matches the power obtained from the photovoltaic source. This is achieved by regulating a grid alternating current, hereinafter AC current, such that it follows any variation of the input power obtained from the photovoltaic source. Current stiff power conversion systems do not set a grid voltage. In solar applications it is desired to constantly adjust the DC voltage to extract maximum power from the solar array.
Therefore, it is desirable to determine a method and system that will address the aforementioned issues.

System and method for a single stage power conversion system


In a rotation detection apparatus, a rotation-angle detector detects a rotation angle of a rotating body based on an output signal generated by a resolver. An exciting-signal generation circuit supplies an exciting signal for exiting the resolver to generate the output signal. An abnormality detection circuit detects an abnormality of an exciting-signal output terminal for outputting the exciting signal or an abnormality of an exciting-signal line for transmitting the exciting signal. A power-supply stopping circuit stops a power supply to the exciting-signal generation circuit when the abnormality detection circuit detects an abnormality of the exciting-signal output terminal or detects an abnormality of the exciting-signal line.

In order to generate a rotating magnetic field depending on an electrical angle in a rotating body such as a brushless motor, for example, the rotational position (rotation angle) of a rotor is detected by using typically a resolver, and a control unit drives a three-phase bridge circuit based on a detection signal generated by the resolver. In accordance with this method, the output of the resolver needs to be converted into a position signal by using typically a special R/D converter (conversion unit for converting a resolver signal into a digital signal).
However, the use of the R/D converter, which is larger and more expensive than other components, increases the size and manufacturing cost of an ECU (electronic control unit). In order to solve this problem, the ECU is provided with a microcomputer for outputting an exciting signal to the resolver and finding a rotation angle based on a signal, which is output by the resolver in accordance with the exciting signal.
In addition, the ECU is also provided with an input/output circuit for facilitating the computation of the rotation angle by the microcomputer. Then, the rotation angle is computed (patent document 1) or the rotation angle is corrected (patent document 2) by using input and output signals of the input/output circuit.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-166803, which corresponds to US 20030111974A1
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-264114
In accordance with the apparatus in patent document 1, in the event of a failure caused by a short circuit between a terminal outputting an exciting signal to a resolver (such a terminal is referred to hereafter as an exciting-signal output terminal) or a signal line and a power supply (such a failure is referred to hereafter as a power-supply short-circuit failure) or in the event of a failure caused by a short circuit between the exciting-signal output terminal or the signal line and the ground (such a failure is referred to hereafter as a ground short-circuit failure), it is likely that a current excessively greater than a current flowing at a normal time continues to flow to a circuit connected to the exciting-signal output terminal.
In order to solve the above problem, when an abnormality of the exciting-signal output terminal is detected, only power supplied to an actuator driven and controlled by the ECU is cut off while an IG switch for supplying power to the ECU is kept in an ON state in order to prevent the system from being stopped due to discontinuation of an operation of power supply to the ECU. In consequence, however, the exciting signal is generated as it is. As a result, it is found that, since the excessively large current continues to flow to the circuit connected to the exciting-signal output terminal from a power supply by way of the ECU, internal components in the circuit overheats and fails.

Apparatus and method for detecting rotation


This invention relates to a prognostic method for determining the risk of an asymptomatic human subject with latent tuberculosis (TB) infection or apparent latent TB infection and/or after suspected exposure to TB progressing to active tuberculosis disease comprising the steps of quantifying and computationally analysing relative abundances of a collection of pairs of gene products (“TB biomarkers”) derived from a sample obtained from the subject. The invention further relates to a collection of TB biomarkers that generates a transcriptomic signature of risk for prediction of the likelihood of an asymptomatic human subject with latent TB infection and/or after suspected exposure to TB progressing to active tuberculosis disease. Furthermore, a kit comprising gene-specific primers or oligonucleotide probes for the detection of pairs of TB biomarkers that generates a prognostic signature of risk for use with the method of the invention is described. In addition, the invention relates to a method of preventive treatment or prophylaxis for TB infection comprising the use of the prognostic method and/or the kit of the invention to select an appropriate or experimental treatment regime or intervention for the human subject and/or to monitor the response of the human subject to the TB prophylaxis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other mycobacteria cause tuberculosis (TB). One third of the global population is latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but only 5-10% will progress to active tuberculosis disease during their life-time, while the majority will remain healthy with latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Risk of progression from latent to active tuberculosis is associated with young or old age, co-morbidities such as HIV infection and diabetes mellitus, socioeconomic and nutritional compromise, and therapy with immune modulatory agents such as tumour necrosis factor inhibitors, among others. The current vaccines to prevent TB disease are not sufficiently efficacious, while diagnosis and methods to treat patients with active tuberculosis disease are not having an acceptable impact on the TB epidemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.5 million people died of tuberculosis in 2013 (WHO 2014), mediacentre factsheet).
Until now, it has not been possible to predict which individuals with latent asymptomatic tuberculosis (i.e. before the onset of TB symptoms) will develop active tuberculosis, given current tools. The predictive ability of a prognostic method for determining which individuals with latent tuberculosis infection are most at risk of developing active tuberculosis would solve two current problems in preventing deaths from tuberculosis world-wide: (1) the need to accelerate the discovery of effective tuberculosis vaccines and (2) the need to treat those with latent tuberculosis to prevent them from ever developing active tuberculosis. The first solution would allow a determination of which human subjects with latent tuberculosis are most likely to develop active tuberculosis in order to more efficiently, efficaciously, and inexpensively recruit potential human subjects for clinical trials testing prospective tuberculosis vaccines and therapeutics. The second solution would allow identification of those individuals with asymptomatic latent tuberculosis who are likely to develop active tuberculosis disease in order to treat them prophylactically. Importantly, this solution would also spare individuals with asymptomatic latent tuberculosis, who are not at risk of developing active tuberculosis disease, from unnecessarily taking prophylactic TB treatment for many months.
Existing systems biology analyses of disease cohorts have identified diagnostic signatures that discriminate persons with active tuberculosis disease from latent tuberculosis infection and from other disease states (Berry, Graham et al. 2010, Maertzdorf, Ota et al. 2011, Maertzdorf, Repsilber et al. 2011, Bloom, Graham et al. 2012, Maertzdorf, Weiner et al. 2012, Ottenhoff, Dass et al. 2012, Bloom, Graham et al. 2013, Kaforou, Wright et al. 2013, Anderson, Kaforou et al. 2014, Sutherland, Loxton et al. 2014). Such diagnostic signatures would allow testing of ill persons with TB symptoms to determine if they have TB or another respiratory disease with similar clinical presentation as TB. No approach has successfully identified or validated prospective transcriptomic signatures of risk in order to determine whether an asymptomatic subject is likely to progress to active tuberculosis disease (a "Progressor") or not (a "Non-Progressor" or "Control").
Identification of such prognostic transcriptomic signatures of risk for progression to clinical tuberculosis disease prior to manifestation of active disease signs or symptoms would provide a unique opportunity to impact the burden of disease, for example through the implementation of early treatment regimens or targeted enrolment into novel intervention studies.

Biomarkers for prospective determination of risk for development of active tuberculosis


The disclosure includes embodiments including a vehicular edge server switching mechanism based on historical data and digital twin simulations. A method includes causing a sensor set of a connected vehicle to determine a current driving context of the connected vehicle. A method includes comparing the current driving context to a set of digital twin data and a set of historical data to determine a predicted latency for using offboard computing resources of an edge server. The method includes determining that the predicted latency for using the offboard computing resources satisfies a threshold for the predicted latency. The method includes executing a switching decision that includes deciding to use the offboard computing resources of the edge server based on the comparing of the current driving context to the set of digital twin data and the set of historical data and the determining that the threshold for the predicted latency is satisfied.

The specification relates to a vehicular edge server switching mechanism based on historical data and digital twin simulations.
Edge computing is an emerging technology for connected vehicles. Edge computing may soon be implemented at strategically important roadside locations.
Edge computing is implemented by installing an edge server in a roadside unit ("RSU"); the edge server then optionally communicates with a cloud server.
Edge computing is beneficial to connected vehicles for various reasons, including, for example: (1) expanding the computational ability of vehicle's onboard computer systems by allowing them to access the computational resources of the edge server, cloud server, and/or other vehicles; (2) allowing vehicles to share important data with one another [e.g., sensor data, future vehicle decisions, any other important digital data which can be shared among vehicles]; and (3) allowing vehicles to participate in other vehicle cloudification.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Vehicular edge server switching mechanism based on historical data and digital twin simulations


A trajectory measuring device that measures a moving trajectory of a moving target in a machine including three or more movable axes for the moving target, the trajectory measuring device including a trajectory calculating unit that calculates, for each plane having two movable axes among the movable axes as coordinate axes, the moving trajectory on the plane by using command conditions to the moving target including an inter-axis phase difference among the movable axes, command signals to the movable axes generated on the basis of the inter-axis phase difference, and feedback signals indicating positions of the movable axes at time when the movable axes are feedback-controlled such that the positions of the movable axes follow the command signals.

A machine (e.g., a machining center or a laser processing machine) such as a processing machine drives a servomotor to thereby control the position of a machining head or the like. When the position of the machining head or the like is controlled, the machining head is controlled such that a route between a start point and an end point of movement accurately follows a commanded route. An axis driven by the servomotor is called feed axis. A two-dimensional or three-dimensional moving trajectory is realized by using a plurality of the feed axis.
The machining head is provided with position detectors such as encoders or linear scales at the respective feed axes. Control using feedback (hereafter, feedback control) is performed such that a difference between a position detected by the position detectors (a feedback position) and a command position decreases. Consequently, the machining head moves while following a given command route.
A trajectory of the feedback position (a feedback trajectory) desirably coincides with a trajectory of the command position (a command trajectory). However, a trajectory error actually occurs between the feedback trajectory and the command trajectory because of various factors.
In machines in recent years, machining accuracy in machining is deteriorated when the trajectory error is large. Therefore, a trajectory error at the time when a circular motion or the like is performed is measured; and adjustment of control parameters, review of a machine configuration, and the like are performed on the basis of a result of the measurement. Conventionally, when a trajectory error during a motion is evaluated, the motion is performed by using a plurality of axes. A feedback trajectory at that time is measured. For example, a numerical control device of Patent Literature 1 collects the position of a servo axis and the position of a spindle axis at the same time at every predetermined cycle, and it converts collection position data in order to calculate machining shape data.

Trajectory measuring device, numerical control device, and trajectory measuring method


An optical fiber cable has a transparent core for transmitting optical data and a biodegradable protective covering. When placed in water, the protective covering dissolves in water after a few days. The raw remaining optical fiber cover is very thin, approximately 0.003 inches in diameter and very fragile. The optical core is easily broken into fine particles which becomes sand on the sea floor.

Optical fiber cables have been used in underwater applications to transmit and receive information. For example, an underwater device can have a propulsion system and a direction control mechanism. The underwater device can be deployed by a support ship and an optical fiber cable can be coupled between the underwater device and the support ship. The support ship can transmit control information to the underwater device that is used to operate the direction control mechanism. As the underwater device moves through the water, the optical cable remains in the water behind the underwater device. After the underwater vehicle has completed its mission, the vehicle can travel back to the support ship so that it can be retrieved. However, rather than retrieving the optical fiber cable, it is typically cut and left in the sea.
The optical fiber cable can then sink to the bottom of the sea and this waste can remain in the water indefinitely. In addition to polluting the water, the optical fiber cable can get tangled in other vessels travelling through the water and be a hazard to fish and marine life that contact the cable. In order to avoid this pollution, what is needed is an optical fiber cable that is biodegradable.

Ocean deployable biodegradable optical fiber cable


A remote-control toy car set includes a toy car, and a remote-control device. The toy car includes a body, a driving device, a stabilizer, a camera system, a sensor, and a first radio module. The remote-control device includes a servo device, a display, a remote-control interface, and a second radio module. Thus, the level indication image is directed toward the inclined direction of the toy car, so that the user can manipulate the toy car to roll in the direction opposite to the inclined direction of the toy car to compensate inclination of the inclined level indication image, so as to guide the toy car to return to the level stable state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote-control toy car set, and more particularly to a remote-control toy car set, wherein the servo device drives the display to simulate movement of the toy car, so that the user can simulate the instant position lively.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional remote-control toy car 100 shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a camera system 101 mounted in the remote-control toy car 100.
Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the display 102 shows the view 103 before the remote-control toy car 100, and the view 103 is taken by the camera system 101.
Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the remote-control toy car 100 is rolled and inclined in the clockwise direction xe2x80x9cC1xe2x80x9d. At this time, the camera system 101 is fixed in the remote-control toy car 100, so that when the remote-control toy car 100 is inclined in the clockwise direction xe2x80x9cC1xe2x80x9d, the camera system 101 is also inclined in the clockwise direction xe2x80x9cC1xe2x80x9d. In such a manner, the view 103 taken by the camera system 101 is inclined in the counterclockwise direction xe2x80x9cC2xe2x80x9d which is opposite to the inclined direction of the remote-control toy car 100. Thus, when the user sees that the view 103 taken by the camera system 101 is inclined in the counterclockwise direction xe2x80x9cC2xe2x80x9d, the user naturally wishes to control the remote-control toy car 100 to roll in the clockwise direction xe2x80x9cC1xe2x80x9d to compensate inclination of the remote-control toy car 100, so that the remote-control toy car 100 is further inclined in the clockwise direction xe2x80x9cC1xe2x80x9d and easily falls down or tips over.
The present invention is to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantage of the conventional remote-control toy car.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a remote-control toy car set, wherein the level indication image is directed toward the inclined direction of the toy car, so that the user can manipulate the toy car to roll in the direction opposite to the inclined direction of the toy car to compensate inclination of the inclined level indication image, so as to guide the toy car to return to the level stable state.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a remote-control toy car set, wherein the servo device drives the display to simulate movement of the toy car, so that the user can simulate the instant position lively.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a remote-control toy car set, comprising:
a toy car including:
a body;
a driving device mounted in the body for driving the toy car;
a stabilizer mounted in the body;
a camera system mounted on the stabilizer;
a sensor mounted on the stabilizer; and
a first radio module mounted in the body and electrically connected to the driving device, the camera system and the sensor;
a remote-control device includes:
a servo device;
a display mounted on the servo device;
a remote-control interface; and
a second radio module electrically connected to the display, the remote-control interface and the servo device; wherein:
the user controls the remote-control interface of the remote-control device to control the driving device to drive the toy car to move;
the camera system takes the views on the travel direction to produce a corresponding image signal which is sent to the display which shows the images corresponding to the image signal;
the sensor of the toy car detects movement of the toy car relative to a predetermined fixed direction to produce a corresponding sensing signal and send the sensing signal to the servo device;
the servo device drives the display according to the sensing signal to simulate the movement corresponding to the toy car; and
the stabilizer maintains the plumb direction of the camera system in line with the gravity direction.
Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed description with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.


A method of mounting bumped electronic components without using a flux during the solder joining process, which is low in cost and offers high reliability of the assembly. Resin adhesive 4 containing filler particles 4a is applied to a board 1 formed with electrodes 2, and a bumped electronic component 5 is mounted onto the board 1 to press the bumps 7 of the electronic component 5 against the electrodes 2 of the board 1. As a result, the oxide films 7a over the surfaces of the solder bumps 7 are broken by the filler particles 4a present in a gap between the lower ends of the solder bumps 7 and the surfaces of the electrodes 2, thus exposing the solder. This process eliminates the need for using the flux when the solder bumps 7 are melted and soldered to the electrodes 2, and therefore the cleaning process after soldering is not required, assuring high reliability of the assembly.

The present invention relates to a method for mounting bumped electronic components to a board or substrate.
As a means for mounting electronic parts onto electrodes of a circuit pattern on a board, there has been known a method which forms solder portions, such as solder bumps and solder precoats, on electronic components to be mounted or on electrodes of the board beforehand and joins the electronic components to the electrodes of the board by means of the solder portions. The soldering process involves applying a flux to the solder portions or the electrodes of the board, mounting the electronic components onto the electrodes, and heating and melting the solder to join the solder portions and the electrodes together. After the solder joints have been formed, the assembly is subjected to cleaning to remove flux residues to enhance the reliability after the mounting, followed by filling an underfill resin into gaps between the bumped electronic parts and the board to reinforce the joints. The underfill resin is then hardened by heat treatment, thus completing the mounting process.
The bumped electronic parts mounting process described above, however, poses the following problems as the electronic parts are miniaturized. First, because the use of such solvents as fluorocarbon, which have been in wide use, for cleaning is restricted by law, the cleaning process after soldering has become complicated and risen in cost, which, combined with on-going reductions in the size of electronic components, has contributed to making the cleaning process technically difficult. As to the underfill resin, miniaturization of electronic components reduces the gaps between the electronic components and the board and therefore makes the filling of resin after the mounting of electronic components difficult, resulting in unstable quality of the assembly. In addition to this quality problem, the above conventional mounting method has another problem that it requires two heating processes for the mounting of each component, one for soldering and one for hardening the resin, thus complicating the process.

Method of mounting bumped electronic components

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A pneumatic transmission system is provided. The system comprises a transmission tube having a first end and a second end. A blower adapted to force air from the first end to the second end of the transmission tube is interconnected to the first end of the transmission tube. A vacuum source having a capacity at least as great as that of the blower is connected to the transmission tube proximal the second end. The vacuum source creates a flow of air from the second end of the transmission tube to the vacuum source, thereby decelerating a carrier being transmitted to the second end of the transmission tube.

The present invention is a pneumatic tube transmission system for transmitting a carrier from an initial terminal to a remote terminal. The invention particularly relates to a transmission system having at least one open terminal and utilizing a slow down blower to create a deceleration zone adjacent the open terminal. The addition of the slow down blower allows the carrier to be pneumatically transmitted from the initial terminal toward the remote open terminal and then decelerated in the deceleration zone, thereby avoiding a high velocity impact between the carrier and the open terminal. The open terminal of the present invention does not require a door, thus allowing the carrier to be removed from the transmission system with a single hand.
Pneumatic transmission systems are widely known and used to transmit articles from one location to another. Typically, the transmission systems consist of tubes or conduits in which a carrier containing documents, samples, or other objects travels by means of pneumatic pressure. The pressure is provided by use of a blower and/or vacuum system. Pneumatic transmission systems are commonly used in drive-in bank tellers where business is conducted via a carrier transmitted between the bank teller and an external terminal in the drive-in area. Pneumatic transmission systems are also used for sending documents between floors and/or offices within the same building, or from one office to another office located some distance apart. Recently, pneumatic transmissions systems have been used by hospitals and clinics for transmitting "fragile cargo" such as blood samples to the laboratory for testing.
In previous pneumatic transmission systems, the carrier would travel through a tube and impact a stop device once it had reached its intended location. In many pneumatic systems, the carrier travels at speeds of 15-20 feet/second or higher, and the impact of the carrier against the stop device can cause great wear on both the carrier and the system. One method for obviating the high velocity impact between the carrier and stop device has employed the use of an air cushion adjacent the receiving terminal. The air cushion is created by pneumatically sealing the receiving terminal and thus creating a trapped column of air which serves to decelerate or "cushion" the carrier. However, such an air cushion system requires that the receiving terminal have a door capable of pneumatically sealing the terminal. The system operator must then manually open the terminal door in order to retrieve the carrier from the system. Alternatively, a complicated mechanism can be provided to automatically open the terminal door upon the arrival of the carrier. However, such mechanisms are often costly and prone to mechanical failures at inopportune times.
Other attempts to resolve the problem of the impact have included the use of other trigger means to shut off the stream of air. These alternative trigger means include such items as a photocell, a timing device, a limit switch, a spring catch, and combinations thereof.
An alternative system in which a carrier is decelerated prior to entering an open terminal area is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,354 to Greene. U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,354 discloses a transmission system in which the pressurized air behind the carrier is routed principally through a check valve positioned near the open terminal to allow the carrier sufficient time to decelerate before discharging into an open terminal. An adjustable gate allows some air to continue to push the carrier to the terminal. A secondary air line adjacent to the open terminal draws in the air from the main transmission line and reroutes it to the blower, thus avoiding the blowing of air through the open terminal. The carrier is decelerated by simply choking off most of the air behind it at a point near the open terminal so that the carrier ejects with a minimum speed from the transmission line into the open terminal.

Pneumatic tube transmission system with slow-down blower


An absolute position detector for detecting an absolute position of a rotating shaft (1) includes a rotatable shaft and first gearing for operatively coupling the rotating shaft to the rotatable shaft (3a). Resolvers are provided, each having a stator and a rotor. The stator includes pole teeth made of a magnetic material and arranged along an outer circumference of the rotating shaft at a distance from the rotating shaft. The rotor includes a rotor made of a magnetic material respectively associated with pole teeth and located between the rotating shaft and pole teeth. Second gearing operatively couples the rotor of the resolvers to the rotatable shaft. Upon a rotation of the rotating shaft, the first gearing causes the rotatable shaft to rotate, and upon a rotation of the rotatable shaft, the second gearing (14 and 15) causes the rotor of each of the resolvers, at incrementally different gear ratios, to vary reluctance of a magnetic circuit formed by the pole teeth of an associated stator portion.

The present invention relates to an absolute position detector for detecting the absolute position of a rotation shaft.
Conventionally, an absolute position detector including reduction gearing and a plurality of resolvers is miniaturized by installing the resolvers on an input shaft.
FIG. 1A is an axial cross section view showing an embodiment of an absolute position detector proposed by the same applicant. FIG. 1B is a cross section view taken along line I--I of FIG. 1A.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the input shaft 1 of the absolute position detector is installed through bearings 63, 64 which are housed a casing 61 of a flange 60. A gear 10 is fitted to the input shaft 1. A reduction gear system is provided in such a manner that the rotation of a gear 11 engaged with the gear 10 causes a gear 12 fitted to a shaft 2 of a gear 11 to rotate. The rotation of a gear 13 engaged with the gear 12 causes gears 14 and 15, both being fitted to a shaft 3b of the gear 13, to rotate. The rotation of the gear 13 further causes gears 16b and 17b, respectively engaged with the gears 14 and 15, to rotate. By this reduction gear system, a cylindrical output shaft 4 fitted to the gear 16b rotates one turn for every twenty four rotations of the input shaft 1, while a cylindrical output shaft 5 fitted to the gear 17b rotates one turn for every twenty five rotations of the input shaft 1.
A rotor 73 is attached to the input shaft 1 with the aid of a key 76 and a rotor 74 is attached to the output shaft 4 with the aid of a key 77b. Further, a rotor 75 is attached to the output shaft 5 with the aid of a key 78b. Stators 70, 71, 72 corresponding to the rotors 73, 74 75 are fixed to the casing 61. The stators 70, 71, 72 and the rotors 73, 74, 75 are made of a magnetic material. The rotors 73, 74, 75 are cylindrically shaped and are attached to the shafts 1, 4, 5 respectively so as to revolve eccentrically relative to the rotation centers of the shafts 1, 4, 5. Each of the stators 70, 71, 72 has four pole teeth and primary windings 84, 85, 86 for providing exciting pulses are wound around the four pole teeth of the respective stator. If the three pole teeth arranged in the axial directions of the stators 70, 71 72 are regarded as one set of pole teeth, secondary windings 80, 81, 82, 83 for outputting amplitude modulation waves are wound around four sets of the pole teeth respectively. Two sets of the secondary windings 80, 82 and 81, 83 are connected in series to each other. By this arrangement, when one of the primary windings 84, 85, 86 is pulse-excited, a pulse voltage is output from the both edges of two sets of the secondary windings 80, 82 and 81, 83 by a reluctance difference between a rotor in response to a excited stator and the four excited pole teeth. The pulse voltage is amplitude-modulated to sine and cosine values of a rotor rotation angle corresponding to an excited stator.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the absolute position detector shown in FIG. 1 and an embodiment of its encoding circuit. The components in FIG. 2 which are the same as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference characters and the explanations thereof are omitted. Resolvers 20, 21, 22 in FIG. 2 respectively correspond to resolvers which are made up of the stator 70 and the rotor 73 the stator 71 and the rotor 74 and the stator 72 and the rotor 75 shown in FIG. 1.
Pulse excitation signal generators 30, 31, 32 sequentially pulse-excite the primary windings 84, 85, 86 of resolvers 20, 21, 22 according to pulse excitation signals P.sub.ex0 P.sub.ex1, P.sub.ex2 based pulse excitation signals Pex 0, Pex 1, Pex 2 based on timing signals P.sub.0, P.sub.1, P.sub.2 from a timing controller 42. For this reason, pulse signals S, C are sequentially outputted to the secondary windings 80, 82 and 81, 83 for outputting the amplitude modulation signal, the secondary windings 80, 82 and 81, 83 being shared by the resolvers 20, 21, 22. The pulse signals S, C are amplitude-modulated to the sine and cosine values of the rotor rotation angle of the excited resolver and are further inputted to A/D converters 40, 41. The A/D converters 40, 41 convert two types of pulse signals S and C by a conversion start signal C.sub.start from the timing controller 42 into numerical values and output the pulse signals as sine signal D.sub.s and cosine signal D.sub.c. The sine signal D.sub.s and the cosine signal D.sub.c outputted from the A/D converters are inputted to a microcomputer 50. Timing signal t.sub.1 from the timing controller 42 allows the microcomputer 50 to determine which resolver the signals come from. Furthermore, the microcomputer 50 computes the following equation (1). However, since the rotation direction of the rotors of the resolvers 21, 22 is opposite to that of the input shaft 1, the microcomputer 50 computes equation (1) after the sine signal D.sub.s and the cosine signal D.sub.c are converted to determine rotor rotation angles .theta..sub.21, .theta..sub.22. ##EQU1##
By the above-described process, data .theta..sub.20, .theta..sub.21, .theta..sub.22, corresponding to the rotor rotation angles of the resolvers 20, 21, 22, is obtained. The microcomputer 50 further computes the following equation (2) to determine .theta.'. EQU .theta.'=.theta..sub.20 +256.times.((24.times..theta..sub.21 -.theta..sub.20 +128)/256) (2)
The above equation (2) is computed using only integers.
As shown in FIG. 3, the determined .theta.' can be represented by any number from 0 to 6143, and denotes the rotation angle of twenty four rotations of the input shaft 1.
The microcomputer 50 then computes the following equation (3) to determine .theta.". ##EQU2##
The above equation (3) is computed using only integers.
As shown in FIG. 4, the determined .theta." can be represented by any number from 0 to 153,599, and denotes the rotation angle of six hundred rotations of the input shaft 1. If necessary, reference is made to Japanese Patent Application No. 63-163049.
Such a conventional absolute position detector as described above requires much space among the rotors of the resolvers in order to avoid magnetic interference between the adjacent resolvers. Furthermore, concentrically circular cylindrically output shafts are required for each rotor, because the rotor rotation ratios with respect to the input shaft of the resolvers arranged on the same axis are different. Therefore, the conventional absolute position detector has a disadvantage in that it is large.

Absolute rotation position detector with coaxial resolvers


Techniques are provided herein for pre-emptively reinforcing one or more buses of a computing device against the effects of signal noise that could cause a reduction in signal integrity. The techniques generally include detecting an event (or “trigger”) that would tend to indicate that a reduction in signal integrity will occur, examining a reinforcement action policy and system status to determine what reinforcement action to take, and performing the reinforcement action.

Computer systems include buses that carry signals between components. Such buses are subject to signal degradation. Signal degradation may come from a number of sources, such as power supply voltage fluctuations, electromagnetic cross-talk, ambient electromagnetic noise, or from other sources. Such signal degradation can lead to errors in signal transmission, ultimately resulting in reduced performance. Thus, improving signal integrity is an important task for a computer system.


An outlet strip having a cable manager arranged to permit organization of power cables coupled to device receptacles in the outlet strip housing. The cable manager may be positioned at an end of an elongated outlet strip having device receptacles positioned along greater than two surfaces of the outlet strip housing. Alternatively, the cable manager may include a plurality of cable management devices, each device preferably positioned adjacent an associated device receptacle. Various electronic device receptacles, such as electrical plug receptacles, and communication data line jack receptacles, are provided on the outlet strip. Preferably, the electrical plug receptacles are arranged to permit each electrical plug receptacle to accept a transformer block without interfering with access to an adjacent receptacle. Marking elements, each corresponding to a different cable management device, may be provided to identify the device receptacle to which a power cable marked therewith is coupled.

Accompanying the increasing use of powered devices is the increasing use of outlet strips permitting a plurality of devices to be powered through the same wall outlet. However, the connection of a plurality of power cables of various devices to the same outlet strip tends to result in the power cables extending in varying directions in a disorganized manner. Accordingly, there has been an ongoing need to provide an outlet strip with the capability of maintaining order among the various power cables coupled to and extending therefrom. For example, U.S. Patent Des. 350,940 to Rossman et al. provides a surge protector having a cable management element and outlets along two faces of the housing.
Moreover, there has been an increase in the variety of electric, electronic, telecommunication devices used, such as computers, monitors, printers, telephones, facsimile machines, dictation equipment, and lamps, which devices have different power requirements. If the outlet strip only provides one type of outlet, then several different outlet strips must be provided, increasing the disorder of the environment of the powered devices. Accordingly, there has been an ongoing need for the appropriate connections for such differently configured powered devices to be provided in an orderly manner on the same outlet strip. Moreover, in a surge protected outlet strip it would be desirable to provide similar surge protection for devices, such as communication devices and devices utilizing coaxial cable connections, which cannot be electrically connected to the surge protector circuit.

Multi-function outlet strip having cable organizing features


A method, apparatus, and computer program product for setting and implementing a policy to compress the history of data on a temporal volume is described.

The ready ability for a business to store, process and to transmit data is a facet of operations that a business relies upon to conduct its day-to-day activities. For businesses that increasingly depend upon data for their operations, an inability to store, process, or transmit data can hurt a business' reputation and bottom line. Businesses are therefore taking measures to improve their ability to store, process, transmit, and restore data, and to more efficiently share the resources that enable these operations.
The ever-increasing reliance on data and the computing systems that produce, process, distribute, and maintain data in its myriad forms continues to put great demands on techniques for data protection. Simple systems providing periodic backups of data have given way to more complex and sophisticated data protection schemes that take into consideration a variety of factors, including a wide variety of computing devices and platforms, numerous different types of data that must be protected, speed with which data protection operations must be executed, and flexibility demanded by today's users.
In many cases, disaster recovery involves restoring data to a point in time when the desired data was in a known and valid state. Backup schemes to ensure recoverability of data at times in the past are varied. Such schemes have traditionally included periodic full backups followed by a series of differential backups performed at intervals between the full backups. In such a manner, a data set can be restored at least to a point in time of a differential backup. Such an approach can be resource intensive as permanent records of the full and differential backups must be kept in order to ensure that one can restore a data set to a state at a particular point in time, especially to point in the distant past. Further, the process of restoring a data volume from a full and a series of differential backups can be time and resource consuming, leading to delays in making the data available to the users.
One approach to providing a less resource-intensive capacity to restore a data set to a particular prior point in time is temporal storage, also known as time-indexed storage and time-addressable storage. Temporal storage can be implemented by associating a temporal volume with a particular data set. A temporal volume maintains non-present data in addition to the data in its present state. A temporal volume maintains the history of data stored on it, thus providing a way for an application to retrieve a copy of the data at any time in the past.
Temporal volumes provide an infrastructure for maintaining and accessing temporal data. Temporal volumes can be used by applications at all levels, including file systems and database management systems. In addition, temporal volumes can also be used as building blocks for data archival, versioning, replication, and backup through integration with file system and backup products. Temporal volumes preserve temporal content so that the content can be used at a later point in time for snapshots, incremental backups, replication, restoring corrupted volumes or deleted files, etc.
In a normal storage volume, when data changes, a data block is changed in situ. In a temporal volume, when a block of data is changed, the existing block can be preserved, and a new data block can be written to a separate location and associated with a time stamp; metadata in the temporal volume is also manipulated to provide a link to the new data block. Old versions of a data block are maintained even when the data block is deleted. This achieves the effect of maintaining copies of one or more states of the data in the past. This process can also be thought of as continuous versioning of the data on the disk volume, and retaining snapshots of the volume whenever it changes. Another temporal storage implementation provides the same effect of maintaining data at points in time by preserving an existing block along with some record of the time of change, and then writing the new data block to the device.
There are many possible embodiments for temporal volumes. In one embodiment, the contents of a temporal volume can be preserved using an indexing system or structure. An indexing structure can be formed using a space-optimized persistent store by allocating the storage over a cache object. A cache object is a logical storage object that gives an illusion of infinite space, while using only limited actual storage space. The cache object accomplishes this by provisioning storage on an as-needed basis.
In another embodiment, the temporal volume can be divided into one or more regions. A region may be anywhere from one physical block of the disk to regions of kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, etc. Each region can have a time stamp associated with it. Applications accessing the temporal volume can specify the time stamps associated with the regions. Alternatively, a time stamp may be specified by an application or the temporal volume manager when data is written to the temporal volume.
Ideally, a temporal volume stores every change that happens to every block of data. But practically, users may be interested in storing only certain changes or images of the volume at only certain points in time or after a defined event. These points at which data is stored on a temporal volume are "checkpoints" of the data. As discussed below, checkpoints can be linked, for example, to the passage of time, the number of changes to associated data, or to a quantity of changes in a section of a volume. Defining the regularity and system of checkpointing can be done by setting a temporal granularity attribute, which is a policy describing when the changes to data on a temporal volume should be stored. The policy will define when a new checkpoint or image of the data on the volume is created internally. Temporal granularity of data can be supplied and maintained in a temporal volume in several ways, including, but not limited to: zero granularity (also known as continuous checkpointing), periodic granularity (also known as regular checkpointing), fixed change granularity, N-change granularity, and application controlled checkpointing.
Zero granularity, or continuous checkpointing, is the ideal case mentioned above. A temporal volume configured with zero granularity maintains every change to the data. That is, whenever a data block is modified, a checkpoint reflecting the modification to the data block is recorded and associated with a time stamp reflecting the time of change. In general, the time stamp is distinct from the concept of a checkpoint. A checkpoint can be thought of as an index point at which modified data is recorded, while a time stamp reflects the time of the data recordation. When a data block is recorded at a checkpoint, the previous version of the data block is also maintained.
Periodic granularity, or regular checkpointing, represents a scenario in which changes to data are stored only at periodic intervals in time. For example, if the granularity is set to two minutes, then an image of modified data will be retained at a checkpoint only every two minutes.
FIG. 1 illustrates an implementation of temporal data storage using periodic granularity. At time t0, a set of data blocks A-G is recorded (110). This can be considered an initial checkpoint for the data, CP0. Each block of data (115) is associated with a time stamp t0 (120). Subsequent to time t0, data in blocks B and E is modified with data B′ (131) and E′ (133), respectively. The new versions of the data blocks are recorded, but with an empty time stamp (135, 137). The chosen periodicity for maintaining data in this scenario is p; thus, the checkpoint at time t1=t0+p is illustrated at 140 and can be identified as CP1. At CP1, time stamp t1 is associated with all data blocks that have been modified since the previous checkpoint CP0. The illustrated example shows that B″ (141) is associated with time stamp t1 (145) and E′ (143) is also associated with time stamp t1 (147). It should be noted that the further modification B″ (141) has replaced B′ (131). The temporal volume is configured such that for every change in data between CP0 and CP1, any block having an empty time stamp, such as 131, will be overwritten. A further example of periodic granularity checkpointing is shown at 150, reflecting the state of data at a checkpoint CP2 associated with time stamp t2. No changes occurred to B″ between CP1 and CP2 and therefore it is still associated with time stamp t1. Block D was modified between CP1 and CP2 to D′ (183), and the modification is associated with time stamp t2 (185). Block E has undergone a further change to E″ (186). The modified block is associated with time stamp t2 (188). The condition of block E (E′) at CP1 continues to be retained (133).
In a temporal volume with an N-change temporal granularity policy, changes to a block of data or a set of data will be retained at a checkpoint only when a set number of modifications to the data have been made.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a implementation of an N-change granularity policy 200. At time t0 (210), data blocks A-G are recorded and associated with time stamp t0. This initial state of the data can be considered as checkpoint CP0. Moving down in the table 200 is reflective of real time passing. As time passes, data blocks in the temporal volume can be modified by users or applications. For example, data block B is changed to B′ and subsequently to B″, and then to B′″. At this point, data block B has undergone three modifications, with each modification overwriting the previous data in the block. If an N-change granularity policy for the volume is to retain modifications to a block after three changes, then a checkpoint CP1 (220) is recorded for B′″ and B′″ is retained along with a time stamp tB1 reflective of the time of recordation of B′″. A subsequent change, BIV can be recorded but will be overwritten by future writes until the requisite number of changes to block B occurs. Another example is illustrated with respect to block E, wherein E′″ is recorded at checkpoint CP1 (230) and associated with time stamp tE1 and EVI is recorded at checkpoint CP2 (240) and associated with time stamp tE2. Similarly, a series of changes to block G are illustrated wherein at G′″ is retained at checkpoint CP1 (250) and associated with time stamp tG1. In N-change granularity, the decision to record a checkpoint is not tied to an actual time of change as in periodic granularity, but rather is linked to the number of changes to a data block over time. Thus, a checkpoint CP1 can occur at differing real times for each block of data, as illustrated (e.g., tB1, tE1, and tG1).
A similar granularity policy is fixed-change granularity, where changes to a volume are checkpointed and retained when a set amount of data has changed on the volume. For example, if a granularity attribute is sent to ten megabytes, then when ten megabytes of data change on the volume, all modified blocks since the previous checkpoint are associated with a new checkpoint and are retained with an associated time stamp. Unlike with a N-change granularity, the checkpoint associated with each block occurs at the same real time (even though the criteria for checkpointing data is divorced from real time), but the number of changes associated with each individual block of data can differ from block to block within a checkpoint and from checkpoint to checkpoint.
In an application-controlled checkpointing policy, changed data is checkpointed only when an application asks the temporal volume to checkpoint a block of data, a file, a region of data, or the entire volume of data. In application-controlled checkpointing, an application issues an I/O request that specifies a new checkpoint should be created and provides a time stamp to be associated with that checkpoint.
One drawback related to temporal granularity policies is that as time progresses, and therefore the number of stored checkpoints increases, more and more data history accumulates on the volume. For example, if a temporal volume is configured with a periodic granularity policy to checkpoint every second, then volume history accumulates on a per second basis. Maintaining this ever-increasing quantity of data can be costly in terms of resources as additional storage space may need to be dedicated to the temporal volume. Further, older data on a temporal volume can become of less importance as time passes. What is therefore desired is a mechanism to set and enforce a policy decreasing the number of checkpoints for older data, thereby effectively compressing the history, or time axis, of the data on a temporal volume. Such history compression decreases the storage resource requirements for a temporal volume operating over a prolonged period of time.

Compression of temporal dimension in a temporal storage device


An electric rotating machine comprises: a stator; a rotor that includes a rotary shaft, and rotates coaxially with the stator; a bracket supporting and fixing the stator, and supporting rotatably the rotary shaft; a rotational position detector disposed on the side opposite to the load of the rotary shaft to detect a rotational position of the rotor; and a power part including a switching element disposed on the outer circumferential side of the rotational position detector. A shield member is disposed at the rotational position detector to cover the circumference and shield a magnetic field generated by the switching element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric rotating machine such as motor and, more particularly, to a small-sized electric rotating machine that includes a rotational position detector and a switching element part controlling current flowing through the electric rotating machine, and that is suitably mounted occupying a small space such as for use in vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an electric motor integrated with a control device that is disclosed, for example, in the Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 27903/1999 (on pages 4-5, FIG. 2), a control device case is fixed to an end bracket or to a housing on the side opposite to the load of an electric motor, and a cooling fan is attached to an end portion on the side opposite to the load of a shaft running through the control device case. The control device case contains an inverter circuit and a positional detector of a rotor that is located on the inner circumferential side of the inverter circuit.
Outputs from the electric motor are adjusted by ON/OFF control of a switching element of the inverter circuit. When operating the switching element, sharp magnetic field change occurs accompanied by the rapid change of currents, and therefore such magnetic field change comes out as electromagnetic noises in other devices or circuits, which may lead to the occurrence of malfunction.
In the electric motor integrated with a control device as disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 27903/1999, since the inverter circuit part containing the switching element and the rotational position detector of the rotor are disposed in proximity to each other, noises that are generated by the above-mentioned sharp change of magnetic field are superimposed on the output from the rotational position detector. Consequently, a problem exists that the position of the rotor is erroneously detected.