A method and a device seek to improve productivity of the installation of fasteners. Improved productivity is targeted by holding a fastener to a driving tool with mechanical components for a substantial portion of an installation sequence to prevent nuisance disengagement between fasteners and their driving tool including dropping of fasteners early in an installation cycle. The productivity of this fastener holding approach is best realized by allowing a streamlined operation with little interaction between the device and an operator. Specifically, a fastener installation device is described which requires no direct manipulation of the device during the sequence of loading a fastener, installation of the fastener, disengagement of the device from the fastener to allow complete installation of the fastener, and loading a subsequent fastener.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Fastener elements such as a screw, nut, bolt, nail, rivet, etc., hereinafter referred to as fasteners, are used to join components together in a myriad of applications. With conventional installation tools, a fastener will engage either a drive socket for fasteners with external driving geometry, such as a hex head bolt, or the fastener will engage a drive bit for fasteners with internal driving geometry, such as a slot, cruciform or internal hex bore. Fasteners easily disengage from these conventional tools and thus an installer may steady a fastener in some fashion during the first phase of initial install until the fastener is installed to a degree its position is sufficiently maintained by the workpiece receiving said fastener. When fastening components together, the installer may need to manipulate or position those components before or while applying a fastener. It is not uncommon to see fasteners loosely applied by hand without any drive tools, prior to using such tools, since the conventional drive tools do not hold a fastener firmly enough to allow the installer to perform such manipulation after loading the fastener into or onto an installation tool.
For both fasteners with internal and external drive geometry, a fastener is engaged with the drive device by axially positioning the fastener into or around the drive device, after which point it is held there with a limited amount of friction. Multiple devices have improved upon the original state of concerns and may restrain a fastener from disengagement under the force of gravity and modest kinematics from the operator positioning the tool with the fastener loaded for install. The currently known approaches have features or operational requirements which may hinder productivity during their use. The following paragraphs discuss categorical approaches of the most relevant known prior art.
A first method employs one or more magnets to impart an axial pull on the fastener, urging it towards the drive mechanism, which may be done by fixing a magnet inside of a drive bore, or for internal drive geometries, the bit itself could be magnetized or a magnetic collar could be disposed around a drive bit so as to contact the face of the fastener directly. Designs with a magnet disposed around a drive bit are depicted in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,641,290 and 7,124,665 (and are commercially available under several brands as of May 2015 including the Hammerhead model HAIB06.) Magnetic drivers have been available for use with drill drivers and other power tools. The drivers are used for driving fasteners, e.g., nuts and screws having a polygonal-shaped, e.g., hex-shaped head. This magnet may interfere with or complicate the loading process by pulling the fastener against the driving tool in an undesired orientation and alignment. Also a magnet may attract metal debris which can interfere with the intended usage of such drive devices. U.S. Pat. No. 8,695,461 provides a fastener holding magnet which can be slid forward in the driving assembly for easier cleaning of the magnet in order to reduce the issues caused by attracting debris, however this modification also increases the difficulty and awkwardness of fastener loading. With this approach, the ability of the fastener retaining mechanism to resist forces normal to the fastener and tool axis, or moments about any axis other than the drive axis, is limited and there is limited ability to prevent disengagement from mechanical procession under such loads. The axial holding force of the magnet is also limited.
A second type of approach employs a drive bit for internal fastener drive geometry, which expands inside that fastener's drive geometry to create retention force. This arrangement could reduce the strength of the drive bit so it may be best used for starting a fastener or installing fasteners which require limited install torque, thus such a mechanism may not be suited for use with a powered driver. Further, these devices often require manual actuation, which may consume time and thus may limit productivity of a user. The fastener retaining means of this approach may be limited. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,063,304, 4,078,593, and 6,681,662 disclose varying approaches to this general concept.
A third approach employs multiple holding members comprised of a leaf spring, with some geometry on the end of said leaf spring to apply force to the underside of the fastener head in a radially inward and axial direction, urging the fastener against the drive mechanism. The leaf spring elements themselves may be fragile due to their required flexible nature and thus may not be well suited for use with a power driver or high volume applications. These tools may only seek to restrain the screw from disengaging under the force of gravity and the kinematics of the operator positioning the tool with the fastener loaded for install. This approach will often have a limited ability to retain fasteners. Further, the leaf springs may require additional operator intervention during the loading sequence, possibly during the installation sequence depending on the application and the feature geometry. Examples of this approach are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 815,758, 2,519,811 and 2,762,409.
A fourth type of approach employs jaws which pinch around the fastener to assist with maintaining axial alignment, longitudinal position or both. This is similar to the third approach; however the fastener holders with this approach may be shaped differently and actuated in a variety of manners. While this design approach may allow more robust constructions than the leaf spring approach, it may also contain many of the same drawbacks. One example of this approach is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,555. The amount of force that can be exerted by these retaining means may be limited, so undesirable angular misalignment of the fastener from the driving axis may occur in operation. In order to load this device, a fastener is dropped into a loading tube, 24 in the Figures. If gravity causes the fastener to drop down into the loading tube and then travel into the main bore of the tool, such a tool may only be suited for installing fasteners in a largely vertical direction. U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,141 discloses another approach to this design where the retention members ("clamps") 150 and 151 are urged radially inwards by an outer sleeve 160 in order for these members to engage against the bottom surface of the screw head and hold the screw against the drive bit (102). With this design, the fastener is first located properly relative to the sleeve and then the outer sleeve 160 may need to be manually positioned during the loading sequence. Since this tool is intended to be held in either a hand or power tool, either of which could be held in one of a user's hands during operation, in order to prevent a fastener from falling off the tool, it may need to be turned into a largely vertical, upside down fashion with the bit pointing up such that the fastener does not fall off the driving device when the user loads the screw with a second hand and then releases that screw to use the same second hand to position the sleeve 160. U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,826 discloses a device used for driving screws with specially formed heads in which jaws 3 and 4 have connected features 19, 20 for engaging with and transmitting torque to drive geometry 13 on the screw head. When a user loads a screw, they supply force to the screw to position components 30, 3, and 4 during which the frictional retention of those components must be overcome, including the position retaining force created by spring loaded pin 36 engaging groove 34. Jaws 3 and 4 are forced radially inward by means of a bore in holder 2 to capture a screw head. After full installation of the screw, the tool may then be pulled away from the screw, releasing it in the process. U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,298 discloses another similar approach in which a user may manually position a sleeve against the force of a spring to hold fastener retention jaws in an open position while loading a fastener. A user holding the driving tool, while also pushing sleeve 52 forward and loading a fastener, may be an awkward task. Further, the sleeve is pushed forward at some point in the installation sequence to release the jaws from the fastener to allow for complete installation without obstruction from the fastener retaining components. User intervention during loading and release of a fastener may limit productivity.
A fifth approach employs a plurality of radially traveling segments in a collet type arrangement that can be radially expanded or compressed through a variety of mechanical means. This may put pressure directly on a fastener to clamp it, or it may close around the fastener and geometrically prevent unintended removal by means of a relief slot in the fastener-engaging side of the movable segments. U.S. Pat. No. 6,497,166 discloses such an approach where a collet 40 includes prongs 24 with an internal groove 62 used to hold the head of a screw. The prongs 24 are such that they may surround a screw head 38 without grippingly engaging it until biased inwardly. To clamp the screw, an operator slides sleeve 22 forward, towards the screw being loaded. During installation, the sleeve 22 will contact a work surface and travel rearward, thereby opening the prongs 24 and releasing the screw. Thus a user of this tool may need to manually position the sleeve 22 after loading a fastener. To operate, a user may need to hold the driver, place a fastener, and then hold the fastener while sliding the sleeve 22 forward. This intervention may limit productivity. U.S. Pat. No. 2,658,538 describes a similar approach. In this arrangement, a user may need to manually retract the sleeve ("housing") 44 in order to load a screw. In operation of this device, the screw is released from the device automatically based on item 50 contacting the work surface and retracting the sleeve 44 without additional intervention from the user. Manual intervention of the tool while loading may limit productivity.
A sixth approach is to have a sleeve slidably disposed about the shank of a driving tool, including a flange capping the end of said sleeve wherein said capping flange has a reduced cross-sectional opening which is too small to permit axial passage of a fastener. A fastener can be loaded into such a holder by passing laterally through a radial slot in the sleeve so that the head of the fastener can be urged against a driving bit or socket by force exerted by this capping flange, said force typically coming from a spring. After substantially installing the fastener into the workpiece, the sleeve may be slid slightly forward in order to allow clearance between the driving tool and the fastener head. The driving tool is then moved laterally past the fastener where the head of said fastener will pass through the aforementioned slot in the sleeve. The sleeve can then be freely retracted such that a driving bit can protrude sufficiently past the capping flange of the sleeve to complete full installation of the fastener. This approach is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 2,796,100 where the head 14 has a slot 18 in the end and a capping flange 19 has a slot 20 to permit engaging and disengaging a fastener 9 with the driver 1. In this case, the sleeve assembly 8 ("holding means") is positioned longitudinally and held by use of a cam sleeve 30. Similar approaches which utilize varying mechanics and operational procedures can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,774,401, 2,884,971, and 8,539,865. Screw-holding screwdrivers employing this approach, and utilizing a simple spring to continuously urge the retaining sleeve in a rearward direction, are commercially available under the Greenlee brand at the time of this application, such as item #0453-18C for driving #2 Phillips bits and other models for other head types. The approach of this category may be best suited for applications where the amount of time spent loading a fastener is of secondary importance. User intervention to load the fastener, as well as to disengage the driver part-way through the fastener installation, may make use with a power driver impractical and this manipulation may limit productivity.
A seventh approach provides a sleeve into which an entire fastener can be slid for rough guidance. This approach provides axial guidance, though possibly in a limited sense, as the full bore of the sleeve must be greater than the diameter of the head and the leading point of the fastener is often significantly smaller. It is thus possible for a fastener to be located within such a sleeve with angular misalignment from a drive bit or socket, such as having the fastener head roughly centered below the driving bit or socket and the fastener shank bearing against the inner wall of the sleeve near the distal end where the device makes contact with the work surface. Thus this approach may not be appropriate for fasteners which require precise axial alignment. Further, as coaxial misalignment between a fastener and mating bit or socket increases, the ability to transmit drive torque and prevent disengagement of the two may be limited. This general type of fastener driving device is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 1,644,074 and products commercially available since at least 2003, for example, what is currently marketed at the time of this application under Dewalt part number DW2055, Bosch part number CC60491 and many others. In operation of the aforementioned commercially available driving devices, the retaining sleeve may need to be re-positioned between each fastener installation, pulling the outer sleeve forward since it is pushed rearward whenever a fastener is installed. This user intervention may limit productivity. U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,941 proposes an improvement to this device wherein the outer sleeve is spring-loaded to automatically return its forward-most position without additional user intervention, thus theoretically reducing time to manually position the sleeve.
An eighth approach utilizes a plurality of drive sections stacked axially upon each other, which can have a torsional force applied between them for purpose of retaining a fastener by various types of drive geometry. U.S. Pat. No. 8,020,472 discloses one such device ("nut capturing socket assembly") 20, which utilizes a sleeve 24 with generally the same drive geometry as a main drive socket 22, but is torsionally disposed about that main drive socket. A user may need to rotate this sleeve 24 to align the drive geometry with that of socket 22, at which point a fastener may be loaded. The operator may release the device after loading the fastener and the relative torsion between the socket 22 and the sleeve 24 will create friction on the outer surface of the fastener to resist dropping of the fastener. The process of manipulating the driving device 20 while loading the fastener may be somewhat awkward with a user holding either the socket 22 or the shank that will provide driving rotation to this device, while also rotating sleeve 24 and loading a fastener. Further, the amount of retaining force possible may be directly related to the torque applied by the torsion creating means which, for purpose of tolerable user actuation, may be relatively small. Holding force applied to the fastener could thus be limited in this approach. Manipulation of the tool may limit productivity.
A ninth approach uses a resilient member such as a spring to urge retaining elements radially inward to capture the underside of a fastener head. This may be done by having a resilient member pushing directly on retaining elements, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,235,235, or it may be done indirectly by a spring urging a cam sleeve, which in turn urges retaining elements radially inward, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,452. It should be noted in each of these patents, the spring force which urges the retaining elements radially inward may need to be overcome by a user when loading a fastener. A correlation may exist between the force available to retain a fastener against external forces and the force required to overcome the resilient force urging the retaining elements radially inward when loading a fastener. The time spent loading such a device and the screw retention capacity of this approach may limit productivity.
A tenth approach, somewhat similar to the ninth approach, is designed such that a cam sleeve will pass the retaining elements in such a manner that the resilient member (usually a spring) is used merely to position the sleeve, not to directly or indirectly provide the holding force. In this fashion, once the components are positioned, something else must reposition them to allow the retaining elements to release the fastener. During installation that allows very high forces to be exerted by the retaining elements, and thus the driving tool may resist a high level of axial force, and prevent disengagement due to force perpendicular to the fastener axis and moment forces between the driver and the fastener. U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,708 details once such embodiment of this approach. In this patent, a body 41 is locked upon a drive bit 21. A body member 71 is urged forward relative to body 41 by a spring 60. Member 71 has multiple apertures 93 located at the forward end in which a plurality of ball bearing retaining jaws 111 are carried. A cam sleeve 131 is biased forward relative to body member 71 by a second spring 90. Cam sleeve 131 has a pair of bores, 141 which is slightly larger than the diameter of body 71 and bore 142 which is a larger diameter and located at the forward end of sleeve 131.
When bore 142 is substantially aligned with retaining jaws 111, they can be retracted in the apertures 93 so as not to restrict the loading and unloading of a fastener 30. However, when sleeve 131 is in its forward position, the smaller bore 141 will be substantially aligned with apertures 93, thus forcing the retaining jaws 111 radially inward towards the tool's central axis, whereby passage of a screw head past the balls to load or unload a screw is prevented.
When no screw is loaded, body 71 and sleeve 131 will be at their forward-most position with retaining jaws 111 protruding into the bore of body 71, thus preventing a screw from being loaded until sleeve 131 is pulled rearward by a user. At that point, a screw 30 can be positioned on bit 21 and sleeve 131 can be released. Sleeve 131 will travel forward; thereby pushing retaining jaws 111 into the central bore of body 71, obstructing said bore enough to prevent removal of the screw.
Since the bore 142 passes the center of retaining jaws 111, outward force on the retaining jaws created by any attempt to remove the screw may not cause sleeve 131 to move rearward, thus the screw is mechanically locked in the loaded position. This feature distinguishes devices of this category from the prior ninth category presented. As a screw is being installed, sleeve 131 will contact a work surface and it will be retracted to release the screw to allow for full fastener installation without manual manipulation after driving has begun. A user manipulating sleeve 131 in order to load a screw may be an awkward task considering the user may need to concurrently hold or steady the driving tool such as a drill, retract sleeve 131 and load the screw. The time spent for this manipulation, while loading, may limit productivity.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,140,161 and 5,207,127 and US Patent application 20020166421 utilize similar mechanical components, which require direct manual manipulation of the screw retaining components by a user during the loading sequence. U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,145 discloses a similar approach in which a cam sleeve 400 is positioned by a user. Further, while a user would be loading a screw ("nail") into the device, they may be required to oppose the force of a compression spring 610 for a significant travel distance. Since this spring is providing the retention force, it is likely stiff. Thus the loading sequence may pose challenges to a user who may need to concurrently steady the tool, exert significant thrust on a sharp fastener, and manually position cam sleeve 400.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,886 describes another device where a user may load a screw without touching or directly manipulating the components of the device, however while loading a fastener, the user is exerting force to position the retaining elements, namely retaining balls 94, their carrier sleeve 84 and a spring 88, which urges those elements forward, whereby the act of loading the fastener will temporarily store energy in spring 88 prior to reaching a triggering point where that energy is released and sleeve 84 is pushed forward, in turn causing balls 94 to be pushed radially inward through contact with cam surface 98. The effort exerted to position the screw retaining components of the device of this invention may limit productivity.
The screw retaining means of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,197,886 and 5,996,452 are similar; however the diagrams of the later patent depict a flat head fastener with a tapered surface under the head. Since the taper angle is closer to the central axis of the tool than the inclined surface 104 which urges the retaining balls inward, the retaining force of that particular configuration may be directly related to the force exerted by the spring and therefore U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,452 was listed in the prior category. As the categories are defined in this background discussion, each could qualify for both categories depending on the screw head geometry which is selected.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,916 describes a prior art device of interest. This patent describes a device for receiving conventional tool shanks such as those conforming to ANSI B 107.4-1982. Thus this device is designed to receive a shank of length significantly greater than cross-sectional width which has a consistent geometrical outer profile aside from a circumferential detent groove to which significant thrust may be imparted between the device and said shank in both directions along the central axis of the device. Also of particular interest is the device described in this patent requires direct manipulation of an outer cam sleeve 14 during the unload cycle.
In operation, a user may directly manipulate outer cam sleeve 14 to a first position and release, subsequently allowing an appropriate tool bit 40 to be pushed into a bore 36 of device 10 where the device will cycle to a closed position without requiring direct manipulation of said sleeve 14 while the bit 40 is being loaded. While cycling between the unloaded and loaded configurations, sleeve 14 travels to a second position, whereby the geometry of that cam sleeve locks the installed bit 40 within the bore 36 of device 10 by means of a bit detent ball 16 protruding radially inward into bore 36 and a circumferential groove 44 in the shank of bit 40. To release the bit, a user directly manipulates cam sleeve 14 from its second position where the bit is held by bit ball 16 to its first position where bit 40 can be removed. The user may then release cam sleeve 14 and then directly grasp bit 40 to remove it from device 10. A subsequent bit 40 can then be loaded into device 10 without direct manipulation of the device while the bit is being loaded. The device described in this patent requires direct manipulation to position the cam sleeve 14 whenever a bit is to be unloaded and it contains no provisions to describe, suggest, car motivate any deviation from that style of operation nor does it illustrate or suggest any mechanics which would enable other operational procedures.

Device and method for fastener element retention and installation


A method for forming, on a substrate, a seed layer enabling the subsequent deposition of a metal layer, including the step of immersing the substrate in a bath containing a material from the ethoxysilane or siloxane family and a copper or nickel amidinate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a substrate metallization method and, more specifically, to a method for forming a seed layer enabling the subsequent deposition of a metal.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Components formed in integrated circuits are generally interconnected by means of metal tracks, for example, made of copper, formed at the surface of a substrate.
There exist many methods for forming such tracks. One of them is to perform an electroless deposition of copper on the substrate. An "electroless" deposition is an autocatalytic deposition performed without using electrodes.
Before performing an electroless deposition, it is necessary to form, on the substrate to be metalized, a seed layer which allows a good bonding on the substrate and which forms a seed for the autocatalytic reaction. Known methods for forming this type of seed layer carry out expensive operations, for example, series of operations of physical deposition, for example, physical vapor depositions (PVD), and etching operations, for example, plasma etchings. Further, several steps are generally necessary to form, on the one hand, a layer of a material ensuring the adherence to the substrate and, on the other hand, seeds of a material enabling the autocatalytic deposition of the metal. Generally, the material ensuring the bonding to the substrate is a material based on tantalum nitride (TaN) or on titanium nitride (TiN) and the material enabling the autocatalytic reaction of the metal is a material based on palladium (Pd), tin (Sn), and/or ruthenium (Ru). It should also be noted that a disadvantage of physical deposition methods is that many of them require substrate-by-substrate processings.

Method for forming a seed layer for the deposition of a metal on a substrate

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE


The conventional manner of play of Twenty-One is modified by having the two initial dealer cards comprising the dealer's initial hand dealt to the dealer position before any cards are dealt to any of the player positions. After the two initial dealer cards are dealt, a fifty card depleted deck is established comprising the original fifty-two card standard deck less the two cards dealt to the dealer position. The cards for each player position are then dealt from the fifty card depleted deck. After the player has received his final Twenty-One hand, the dealer's final hand is completed, also using the depleted fifty card deck. Winning and losing hands are determined according to the conventional manner of play of Twenty-One.

There are many casino games in which a hand of cards are dealt to each player and a hand of cards are dealt to a dealer. The general object of these games is for the player to achieve a final hand that beats the dealer's final hand.
For example, in the game of Twenty-One, each player is initially dealt two cards and the dealer is dealt at least one card face up. Depending on the dealing procedure used, the dealer normally is dealt a second card which remains face down to the players until each player has completed the play of his hand. At which time, the dealer's second card is exposed and the dealer completes the play of his hand according to the house rules. Winning and losing outcomes are then determined.
Typically, the dealing procedure for Twenty-One involves the dealer dealing one card to each player starting with the player on the dealer's immediate left. After each player has received his first card, the dealer deals one card to the dealer's hand. A second card is then dealt to each player and the second card is dealt to the dealer's hand. One of the dealer's cards is displayed face up.
The dealer then starts with the player to the dealer's immediate left and asks the player whether he wishes to Hit or Stand. As desired by the player, the dealer continues to deal additional face up cards to that player until the player either Stands or Busts. The dealer then proceeds from left to right around the table until all players have achieved their final Twenty-One hand. The dealer then exposes his second card and completes the dealer's final Twenty-One hand according the Hit or Stand house rules for dealing the dealer's Twenty-One hand. Winning and losing wagers are resolved.
As played in most gaming casinos presently, the conventional manner of play of Twenty-One involves a game of chance between a dealer and one or more players. The object is for the player to achieve a numerical count of his hand closer to 21 than the final numerical count of the hand of the dealer; but if the numerical count of the player's hand goes over 21 then the player loses regardless of the final numerical count of the dealer's hand.
The conventional manner of play of Twenty-One is as follows: One or more standard decks of playing cards are used and each card counts its pip face value (with Jacks, Queens and Kings counting 10), except Aces which have a value of one or eleven as is most beneficial to the count of the hand.
The deck or deck of cards is shuffled and a dealer distributes the cards to each player. Each player initially receives two cards. The dealer also receives two cards. One of the dealer's cards is dealt face down and the other of the dealer's cards is dealt face-up. In some gaming establishments, the dealer receives his two cards at the same time that each player is dealt his two cards. In other gaming establishments, the dealer initially only receives one card which becomes the dealer's "up" card. After each player has had the opportunity to take additional cards ("hits"), the dealer then receives his second card.
A player may draw additional cards in order to try and beat the count of the dealer's hand. If the player's numerical count exceeds 21, the player "busts." The player may "stand" on any numerical count of 21 or less. When a player busts, he loses his wager regardless of whether or not the dealer busts when the dealer draws additional cards to his hand.
After all of the players have taken hits or have stood on their hand, the dealer "stands" or "hits" based on pre-established house rules for the game. Typically, if the dealer has less than 17, the dealer must take a hit. If the dealer has 17 or more, the dealer stands.
As the game of Twenty-One is played in most legalized gaming establishments, the conventional manner of play requires the dealer to take a hit whenever the dealer's hand is a "soft 17" numerical count. However, in other gaming establishments, the dealer stands on a "soft 17" numerical count. The term "soft" means that the Ace is valued as a count of 11, instead of as a count of 1. A soft 17 occurs when the dealer has an Ace and a Six (or multiple cards that add up to 6). The dealer will stand on soft 18's, soft 19's and soft 20's.
After the dealer's final hand has been established, the numerical count of the dealer's hand is compared to the numerical count of the player's hand. If the dealer busts, the player wins regardless of the numerical count of his hand. If neither the player nor the dealer has busted, the closest hand to a numerical count of 21, without going over, wins; tie hands are a "push."
There are other procedures that are included in the conventional manner of play of Twenty-One. One well-known procedure is "Doubling Down." If the player's first two cards have a combined value of 10 or 11, the player may "double down" on his hand. The player turns both of his cards face-up in front of him and makes a second wager up to, but not more than, the amount of the player's initial ante. The dealer deals to the player one additional card and the resulting three card hand establishes the numerical count for the player's hand. The most widely used "Doubling Down" rules permit the player to "double down" only on 10 or 11 counts. Other variations allow players to "double down" on 9, 10 or 11; only on 11; or on any two cards.
Another well-known procedure is "Splitting Pairs." If the player's first two cards are a pair, the player may "split" those cards into two separate hands. His original ante is applied to one of the hands and he makes an additional ante in the same amount for the other hand. The player receives a new second card for each of the split hands. Each of the split hands is then played separately and the player proceeds on each separate hand by standing or taking hits until he has achieved a hand count upon which he wishes to stand or until he busts. However, if the player splits Aces, then the player only receives one extra card on each Ace, unless the extra card is an Ace in which the case the player may again split the pair of Aces.
The player may "double down" on either or both of his split hands if he is eligible to do so under the "Doubling Down" rules. The player may split again if he pairs up on either or both of his split hands. In most gaming establishments, a player may also split his hand if both of his initial cards are ten count cards (Tens, Jacks, Queens or Kings). For example, a player can split if he receives a Ten and a Queen, or a Jack and a King, or any combination of ten count cards. Because a hand count of 20 is a good hand to have, most experienced Twenty-One players are reluctant to risk such a hand by "splitting."
Another well-known procedure is "Insurance." If the dealer's up card is an Ace, the player may make an additional "Insurance" bet. The insurance bets are made after each player receives his first two cards and the dealer reveals his up card (which must be an Ace for insurance to be available) and before any additional cards are dealt. When the dealer's up card is an Ace, each player can wager one-half of the amount of his original ante as insurance against the dealer having a Blackjack, i.e. a two-card 21 count (an Ace and a 10 count card such as a King, Queen, Jack or Ten). If the dealer has a Blackjack, the player loses on his original ante but wins two-to-one odds on his "insurance" bet. Also if the dealer has a Blackjack, that round of the game is over and all players lose except those who also have Blackjacks, who then tie or "push" with the dealer. If the dealer does not have a Blackjack, the player loses on his "insurance" bet and the round of the game continues.
Another conventional feature that is often offered in Twenty-One games is the "Surrender" option. If the player chooses to Surrender, the player receives back half of his initial wager and folds his hand. This option is usually only available after the player has received his first two cards and before the player has taken any hits on his hand.
As used in this disclosure and the accompanying claims, the terms "conventional Twenty-One" and "the conventional manner of play of Twenty-One" mean the game of Twenty-One as previously described and also includes any of the known variations of the game of Twenty-One.
The present manner of presenting a game of Twenty-One to players is to use a live table game format in which a single dealer position is used in conjunction with up to six or seven player positions. Thus no more than seven players can be accommodated during a typical round of Twenty-One. Even the electronic gaming versions of Twenty-One follow the live gaming table format and limit themselves to no more than seven player positions per dealer position.
There is a need to provide a method of play of a Twenty-One game in which multiple player positions in excess of seven can be accommodated in an electronic gaming environment, preferably using a single dealer position. This will permit a higher volume of play per each round of Twenty-One and increase game revenue to the gaming establishment.
When a single deck of playing cards is used, the number of player positions is limited by the fact that there are only fifty-two cards in the deck. There simply would not be enough cards in the deck to accommodate twenty or more player positions playing against a single dealer position.
The present invention can accommodate theoretically an unlimited number of player positions playing against a single dealer position.

Method of dealing hands of cards in games having a dealer and multiple players


Enhanced realism of a real-time simulator having multiple computer-controlled units results from making the units capable of reacting to only those other units that each of them can be aware of because of their spatial relationships to the unit. Awareness is based upon probabilities; it can persist after a relationship changes; and it can be influenced by a unit's designation of a target. Each unit selects a target based upon a score incorporating multiple aspects of its tactical situation, and can change targets when the situation changes. A unit selects a strategy in response to which of a set of tactical configurations exist between the unit and its target; the strategy can change short of completion when the configuration changes. A plan produces guidance commands from the high-level strategy. The guidance commands are converted into control settings for guiding the subject unit using a physics engine for simulating the physical dynamics of the unit. The control settings can interact with each other under certain conditions. The time rate at which each computer-controlled unit performs the above operations varies with the tactical situation, and can be different for different units. The operator for each unit precomputes some data required for multiple calculations in performing the operations.

The present invention relates to electronic data processing, and more particularly concerns the real-time simulation of skill-based activities such as air-to-air combat.
Designing a real-time air-combat simulator is full of challenges. One of them is developing a compelling artificial intelligence (AI) for allowing the computer to control the actions of simulated aircraft and other entities that try to shoot the human player out of the sky. (For brevity, all such entities will be referred to as "AI units.")
Real-time simulators demand the utmost from a computer. There is never enough time to perform all the calculations required to simulate the motions of the player's aircraft, other aircraft visible to the player, and complex terrain, and to render their images on a display screen. Where compromises are necessary, conventional simulators tend to skimp on the realism of the AI units. The purpose of the AI units is to mimic human-like behavior as closely as possible. Playing present air-combat products quickly reveals weaknesses in the behavior of simulated enemy pilots. They feel computerish. They perform in ways which are both better and worse than human pilots. Their incredible ability to react to aircraft dead astern of them and to maneuver instantaneously is frustrating to players. On the other hand, human players quickly learn to take advantage of their simplistic tactics, turning the game into a turkey shoot.
Conventional AI-unit simulators lack realism in the area of situational awareness, the ability to see and thus react to other units in the simulated region. The common expedient in air combat is to maintain a list of the three-dimensional position of every aircraft in the combat zone, and to make the full list available to every AI unit for target selection, attack planning, and evasive maneuvers. This approach lends a disconcerting omniscience to their ability to track large numbers of other aircraft in furballs, where many aircraft engage each other from various attitudes. Real pilots can see any aircraft in a cone ahead of them, but awareness drops off for aircraft approaching from the flank or from above and below. Bogeys at six o'clock should be as invisible to AI units as they are to human pilots. Another aspect of situational awareness concerns persistence. Even though another aircraft is less visible out of the forward cone, human pilots remain aware of other aircraft that drop astern from a sector of higher visibility, and continue to react to their presence for some period of time. Further, it is characteristic of human pilots to fixate upon a targeted aircraft, paying more attention to it and paying less attention to other aircraft. It should be easier for the human player to jump a simulated enemy unit when it is pursuing another target. It should be harder for the human player to duck a pursuing enemy AI unit.
Target selection is also a shortcoming of conventional simulators. When many targets are available in a furball, present-day AI units employ crude or even random factors for designating one of them to engage. And, once locked on to a specific target, contemporary AI units doggedly pursue it, refusing to acquire a more favorable target. This defect often allows human players to consider otherwise suicidal tactics to approach an enemy unit within point-blank firing range.
A shortcoming in the basic design of simulators for many-unit simulators is to enhance the realism of the player-controlled aircraft or other unit at the expense of the computer-controlled units. For example, each AI unit might be allocated the same fixed amount of computer resources, or all AI units given exactly the same skill level. Where many computer-controlled units are attempted, it is easy to justify skimping on the physics of their simulation. Whereas the player's unit is simulated with a full physics engine that mimics many details of the unit's actual response to their control inputs, the AI units are guided through simpler simulation techniques, usually through more or less direct control of their flight paths. The player's unit gets the full treatment; the AI units do not, and suffer for it.
Enhancing the realism of computer-controlled AI units is not straightforward. The first problem is, of course, is to design their behaviors to be more realistic, as discussed above. Then, given the computation-intensive nature of real-time simulation, the next problem is to implement those behaviors more efficiently. Simulators operate in cycles, updating the current state of objects in the system during each cycle to produce a new state for the next cycle. Conventionally, the parameters of the AI units are recalculated in a think interval that remains constant for all parameters and that is the same for all units. In a complex simulation involving increased computation for many units, each of which can be in different circumstances, this simple scheme wastes valuable time and resources. Slowly changing parameters are updated more often than necessary, while units in the thick of the action react sluggishly for lack of timely updates.
Realism of AI units suffers further from crude simulation of their maneuvers. Newer products in this genre employ sophisticated physics engines for recreating the actual characteristics of the player's aircraft. Yet the computer-controlled units remain directed by simpler commands to proceed in a certain direction at a certain speed. This technique results in jerky, mechanical actions, and in physically impossible maneuvers. Vectoring routines can include artificial constraints such as limits on turn rates, but the results are often less than believable. Also, the direct control used in conventional simulators allows little in the way of modeling different enemy aircraft. Although the user of a player-controlled simulator such as Microsoft Flight Simulator.RTM. can choose among a wide variety of aircraft types, combat-type simulators are much more restricted. The computer-controlled AI units are either fixed or restricted to a few types having unrealistic behaviors.
Unrealistic actions are most noticeable during extreme maneuvers of an AI unit. For example, a computer-generated tactical command for an aircraft to descend sharply while in a bank may produce a totally undesired maneuver, directing the craft in a wholly different direction than that intended. Even in the absence of guidance commands, maintaining a proper pitch attitude during turning and banking is difficult. Another aspect that is generated unrealistically in current simulators concerns the way in which an AI unit turns to follow a target. Computers single-mindedly point an AI aircraft at its target as quickly as possible and follow it as closely as possible. Even relatively inexperienced players see that technique as artificial.
The above discussion focuses upon air-combat simulators as an example of the class of simulators that employ one or more units or entities controlled by the computer, s well as a simulated unit controlled by a player or other user. This genre includes other competitive scenarios such as BEM (bug-eyed monster) adventure games and NASCAR races. There is little difference between simulators for entertainment and those for skill training such as driver education. All but the simplest simulation applications have less realism than their designers wish for, and the need for enhanced realism for the computer-controlled AI units is as intense as that for the player-controlled unit.

Heightened realism for computer-controlled units in real-time activity simulation


Apparatus for looping raw dough products, in particular strands of dough preshaped to produce pretzels, comprises a device for supplying the raw dough products—e.g. a conveyor—and a loop-forming device for looping the raw dough products, in order to produce pretzel-shaped raw dough products. This device comprises sensors for detecting the ends of the raw dough products for the purpose of controlling gripping devices of the loop-forming device. The sensors for detecting the ends of the raw dough products are designed as thermal imaging sensors.

The present invention relates to a device for looping raw dough products, in particular strands of dough pre-shaped to produce pretzels.
Devices for looping pretzels is known from the prior art. They generally comprise apparatus for supplying raw dough products and a loop-forming device for looping the raw dough products in order to produce pretzel-shaped raw dough products. Optionally a device may be provided for stretching and/or aligning the raw dough products generally supplied to the loop-forming device in a U-shape with the branches (legs) of the U in front or forward as viewed in the direction of conveyor movement.
In devices known from the prior art for looping pretzels, sensors are provided which detect the ends of the strands of dough for the purpose of aligning and/or for the purpose of controlling gripping devices of the loop-forming device.
Such sensors are generally designed as single-path or reflex light barriers. For example, in DE 10 2009 0006 479 A1, a device is disclosed for looping raw dough products, in particular for producing pretzels, which comprises a loop-forming device and a conveying device for the raw dough products. At the end of the conveying device facing the loop-forming device in each case a component is provided which serves as a "dough receiver" for the arriving (leading) end of a raw dough product and includes, and/or is operatively connected to, a sensor for detecting the raw dough product.
Another device for producing pretzels is disclosed in DE 198 52 046 C1. This device comprises a supply arrangement, a discharge arrangement for the completed pretzel loops, a working platform and a robot arm or linear robot for looping the raw dough products. The robot arm or linear robot is provided on its underside with grippers or suction pads for looping the strand of dough to form a pretzel. In this case, the known device comprises at least one sensor for ascertaining the end of the strand of dough, and a control device that coordinates the cooperating movements of the movable individual parts of the device using the signals thereof.
Apparatus for stretching and/or aligning raw dough products is disclosed in DE 10 2010 008 024.1. This apparatus comprises a sensor unit having two sensors for detecting the ends of a strand of dough of the arriving raw dough products. In the case where the sensors for detecting the ends of a strand of dough in the conveying direction are arranged upstream of the means for aligning and/or stretching the raw dough products, the known device comprises a light barrier for detecting the raw dough product and. Thus. the moment in time when the transverse part of the U-shaped raw dough products, arriving with the branches of the U in front, passes through the light barrier.
EP 1 935 246 B1 discloses a system for measuring and aligning strands of dough in terms of their length and position for use in pretzel looping machines or other dough preparation machines. The system comprises a scanning device for individually identifying each of two end portions of a strand of dough protruding in the conveying direction, the scanning device for each end portion of a strand of dough in each case including a set, or group, or a row aligned therewith of a plurality of parallel energy sources and energy sensors or receivers. The energy sources and/or sensors or receivers thus grouped together are arranged and configured on both sides of the through-passage of the strand of dough in predetermined numbers and/or for emitting a predetermined quantity of energy. In this case, the control of the system in terms of circuitry and programming is designed and set up so that a quantity of energy, emitted by a group of energy sources towards the respective end portion of a strand of dough, may be compared with the amount of energy detected or received, and the length and/or position of the strand of dough may be derived from the comparison, and the drive unit of the system may be activated to maintain a predetermined position of the strand of dough.
The use of sensors known from the prior art which, as already explained, are designed as single-path or reflex light barriers or energy sources with associated energy receivers, results in increased costs and in complex assembly.


A method for assigning work to a plurality of threads using a primitive data element to partition a work load into a plurality of partitions. A first partition is assigned to a first thread and a second partition is assigned to a second thread of the plurality of threads. A method for improving the concurrency of a multithreaded program by replacing a queue structure storing a plurality of tasks to be performed by a plurality of threads with a partition function. A computer system including a processor unit configured to run a plurality of threads and a system memory coupled to the processor unit that stores a multithreaded program. The multithreaded program workload is partitioned into a plurality of partitions using a primitive data element and a first partition of the plurality of partitions is assigned to a first thread of the plurality of threads for execution.

Multithreaded programming permits concurrent execution of computational tasks to improve application performance. Thread synchronization methods such as semaphores, mutual exclusion locks, and readers/writer locks are generally used to guarantee the atomicity of operations on shared data and to provide a consistent view of memory across concurrently executing threads. Multithreaded programming generally employs a model for assigning computational tasks to threads. Conventional models include creating a thread for each task and a thread pool (a special case of which is the Boss/Worker model). Creating a thread per task may cause performance issues when the frequency of task creation is high and mean task duration is low. A thread pool typically incorporates some form of queue data structure to manage the work/resources assignable to each thread in the pool. This in turn requires some form of synchronization to prevent threads interfering with one another while accessing the queue data structure.
In a thread pool model, a number of threads are created to perform a number of tasks which are usually organized in a queue referred to as a task queue. Typically there are many more tasks than threads. A thread requests the next task from the task queue upon completion of its current task. When all tasks have been completed (i.e., the task queue is empty), the threads can terminate or sleep until new tasks become available.
Thread synchronization mechanisms may cause execution bottlenecks when multiple threads are blocked while attempting to access a protected data structure or code segment. In addition to the overhead (and reduced concurrency) introduced by the use of a synchronization mechanism to parallelize an application, there may be overhead associated with the Thread Pool assignment model employed. The management of work/resources through the use of a queue generally requires synchronization as well. For example, in the Boss/Worker model, a main (Boss) thread performs the task of finding the work (i.e., filling the queue) with the worker threads selecting and completing the work from the queue. Since all worker threads require access to a single queue, synchronized access is generally required to provide a consistent view of the queue data structure among all executing threads. This may result in a performance bottleneck when multiple worker threads are blocked while attempting to access the queue.
Appendix I, which is incorporated herein by reference, shows the source code for matrix multiplication employing a conventional thread pool model of multithreading programming that incorporates the use of work/resource queues. Matrix A has dimensions (N, M) and matrix B has dimensions (M, K) and the results matrix C has dimensions (N, K). The worker threads process individual rows of A and individual columns of B resulting in individual elements of C. The total number of tasks that can be performed in parallel is N*K. It should be noted that matrix multiplication is intrinsically parallel in that the calculation of any of the tasks is independent of all the others. However, use of a queue to manage thread assignment typically reduces concurrency.
When the matrix multiplication is performed, a mutual exclusion (mutex) lock is acquired to ensure that only one matrix multiplication is in progress. A mutex lock typically is used to synchronize threads, usually by ensuring that only one thread at a time executes a critical section of code. The mutex locks are statically initialized to zero before use. The main thread (the boss thread) checks whether its worker threads have been created. If not, it creates one for each CPU.
Once the worker threads have been created, the boss thread sets up a counter of work to do and signals the workers with a condition variable. Each worker thread selects a row and column for the input matrices, then updates the row and column variables so that the next worker thread will get the next row or column or both.
The mutex lock is then released so that computing the vector product can proceed in parallel. When the results are ready, a worker thread reacquires the mutex lock and updates the counter of work completed. The worker thread that completes the last bit of work signals the boss thread that the matrix multiplication is complete.
Porting legacy code to utilize multithreading typically requires significant changes to the legacy code. As the code in Appendix I illustrates, the multithreaded code for matrix multiplication using a queue and locking mechanisms is very different from its single threaded counterpart. The multithreaded version typically involves porting of the single threaded counterpart to insert queue structures and locks to synchronize access to the queue structures. It should be noted that as the number of threads increases, contention for the queue increases due to the increased locking activity. This generally results in less concurrency, a result of using a non-parallel construct (e.g., a queue) to parallelize an application.
Additionally, the number of threads created for the thread pool with a queue structure is a parameter that typically has to be tuned for best performance. The cost of having a larger thread pool is increased resource usage. Additionally, too many threads may hurt performance due to increased context switching overhead while too few threads may not fully utilize all the resources.
What is needed is a method of assigning work to threads that does not require synchronization. What is further needed is a method that eliminates work queues to provide improved concurrency and increased application performance in a multithreaded programming environment.

Method for multithreading an application using partitioning to allocate work to threads


A method for scavenging hydrogen sulfide from geothermal steam in a condenser under vacuum. A fine curtain of atomized acrolein-water droplets may be sprayed into geothermal steam condensers in an amount of approximately 2:1 molar ratio of acrolein to H2S based on hydrogen sulfide in the incoming steam from the turbine. The range being approximately 0.1 ppm to 500 ppm of sulfide. The acrolein is allowed to react with the gas phase H2S to form non-volatile aldehyde byproducts which partition into the water phase, are returned to the cooling tower and ultimately removed by normal cooling-tower blow down.

Geothermal heat originating from the earth's core is a "renewable" source of energy. The magma below the earth's crust heats nearby rocks and water. Hot geothermal effluent comprised of water and steam travels through faults and cracks to the earth's surface as geysers. Geysers in northern California are currently sources for geothermal energy plants. However, most hot geothermal water stays deep underground trapped in geothermal reservoirs and must be brought to the surface via a drilled production well if it is to be productively used.
A geothermal power plant is a thermal plant which uses geothermal resources as its principal source for generation of electrical power. A geothermal effluent is the effluent which is heated by geothermal heat and used to power the geothermal power plant. There are basically three kinds of geothermal power plants which utilize this hot water/steam in geothermal reservoirs as a geothermal effluent. A "dry" steam reservoir produces steam, but very little water. This steam is piped directly to a "dry" steam power plant to provide the force to spin a turbine generator.
A geothermal reservoir that produces mostly hot water ranging in temperature from 300-200 degrees F. is used in a "flash" power plant. This high temperature water is brought to the surface and released from the pressure of the reservoir; flashing into steam in a separator. The steam drives turbines.
In a third kind of plant, called a "binary" power plant, geothermal water between 250-360 degrees F. is passed through a heat exchanger where its heat is transferred to a second (binary) liquid that boils at a lower temperature than water.
When heated, the binary liquid flashes to vapor which expands and spins turbine blades.
In all of these types of plants, the geothermal effluent comprised water or steam may contain varying amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) which, if not properly disposed, may cause environmental, health, and safety problems. In the "dry" and "flash" plants, the exhaust from the power plant turbine generally passes through a condenser which produces a condensate stream and a non-condensable gas stream which contain varying amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). In the binary plant, the "cool" geothermal fluid is re-injected into the production formation. This fluid contains hydrogen sulfide and may be treated prior to re-injection.
Typical ways of removing hydrogen sulfide from geothermal effluent are by injecting oxidizing agents such as peroxides or hypochlorite; using an amine removal system; absorption into water; or injecting triazine based products. Oxidizing agents are corrosive and may result in formation of solids that may cause operational problems. Amine systems are efficient, but require a large capital investment. Absorption of hydrogen sulfide into water streams results in toxic water that has the potential to subsequently release hydrogen sulfide into the atmosphere. Triazines are inefficient when injected directly into an aqueous system and require large volumes of chemical to be effective or require large capital investments if used on non-condensed steam.

Method for removal of hydrogen sulfide from geothermal steam and condensate


Provided is a toner having an excellent low-temperature fixability and hot offset resistance, a broad fixing temperature latitude in low-temperature areas to high-temperature areas, and a high heat-resistant storage stability. The toner includes toner particles having a core-shell structure in which a shell phase containing a resin A is formed on a core containing a binder resin, a colorant and a wax. In measurement of resin A by a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the peak temperature TpA (° C.) of a maximum endothermic peak in the first temperature rise is at least 55° C. but not more than 80° C. In measurement of a viscoelasticity of resin A, the loss elastic modulus at TpA−10 (° C.) is at least 1×107 Pa but not more than 1×108 Pa. In measurement of the viscoelasticity of resin A, the loss elastic moduli at TpA (° C.), TpA+10 (° C.) and TpA+25 (° C.) satisfy specific conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner for use in an image-forming method which utilizes electrophotographic technology, electrostatic recording technology or toner jet recording technology. More specifically, the invention relates to a toner for use in an image-forming method in which a toner image is formed on an electrostatic latent image-bearing member, then is transferred onto a transfer material to form a toner image which is subsequently fixed under heat and pressure to obtain a fixed image.
2. Description of the Related Art
How to implement energy savings in the field of copiers and printers has become a major technical concern in recent years. One approach that has arisen is to dramatically reduce the amount of heat applied to the fixing apparatus in electrophotographic equipment. This has led in turn to an increased need in toners for "low-temperature fixability" which enables sufficient fixing of the toner to occur at a lower energy.
One method that is known to be effective for enabling fixing to occur at lower temperatures is to confer the binder resin with sharp melting properties that allow the resin to melt under a small temperature change. It is in this connection that toners which use crystalline polyester resins have been proposed. Crystalline polyesters, because they have the property—owing to the regular arrangement of the molecular chain—of not exhibiting a distinct glass transition and not readily softening up to the crystal melting point, are being investigated as a material which can be endowed with both heat-resistant storage stability and low-temperature fixability.
WO 2009/122687 discloses a toner obtained by a dissolution suspension method wherein a block polymer which uses a polyester resin, a polyurethane resin, a polyurea resin, a polyamide resin or a polyether resin in crystalline segments and non-crystalline segments is used as a binder resin.
This disclosure describes, for the block polymer, about control of the viscoelastic behavior at the endothermic peak temperature Ta from the block polymer in heat of fusion measurement using a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and in the temperature range around the melt onset temperature X in a Koka-type flow tester.
When a crystalline polyester is used in the binder resin, sharp melting properties can be imparted to the toner. However, owing to inadequate viscosity during melting of the toner, hot offset readily arises in the fixing step on the high temperature side.
In the case of toners having a core-shell structure, it is conceivable to introduce a crystalline structure into the shell material itself.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2010-150535 introduces a large number of structures capable of forming crystallinity, such as long-chain alkyl groups and crystalline polyester units, into the shell material, thereby conferring the shell material with sharp melting properties, and attempts in this way to endow the toner with both low-temperature fixability and heat-resistant storage stability. However, it has been found that this approach makes it difficult to maintain the viscosity during melting of the toner, leading to an inadequate hot offset resistance.
As a result, in toners having a core-shell structure, it is necessary not only to confer sharp melting properties, but also to suppress a decline in the viscosity of the overall toner due to melting of the binder resin.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 4285289 discloses, in a toner, which is obtained by agglomeration method, containing crystalline structures in the core, the art of utilizing metallic ions within an agglomerating agent for inducing agglomeration of the fine particles in order to effect crosslinking between molecular chains of the resin, and thereby retaining the high-temperature side viscosity of the toner. In this way, the viscosity of the binder resin during melting of the toner is retained, enhancing the temperature region in which fixing is possible.
However, it has been found that, in this method, because the molecular chains are strongly bonded chemically by ionic crosslinking, the decrease in viscosity during melting of the toner is suppressed, making it difficult to enhance the fixing temperature region.
Hence, there exists a need to carry out technical improvements in such a way as to not only impart sharp melting properties to the shell material, but also suppress a decrease in the viscosity of the shell material during melting of the toner on the high-temperature side in the fixing step, and thus ensure a decrease in the viscoelasticity of the overall toner.


A motion simulator for vehicle driver training, which includes at least three actuators placed at the vertices of a triangle, connected to at least three connecting points, arranged in a triangle, for the fastening of a platform of a cabin by lever arms, one end of each of these arms being connected to a corresponding actuator by a joint with two degrees of freedom, the other end of one of the lever arms being connected to a point for fastening the platform by the joint with two degrees of freedom, and the other end of the other lever arms being connected, at all times, to one of the other platform fastening points by a joint with at least four degrees of freedom.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a motion simulator for training persons to drive a vehicle, more particularly a tank.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The cabins of present-day simulators are mounted on platforms driven by hydraulic jacks, enabling the application to them mainly of rotations along three axes: roll, pitch and yaw.
The accelerations and angular deflections are identical to those encountered during the movements of tanks in the field.
Nevertheless it would appear that the training of a trainee does not always require the absolute values of the simulation parameters to be all reproduced with exactness.
Certain parts of the human body record the accelerations that it undergoes like accelerometer sensors. The pieces of information are processed by the brain and analyzed. After analysis, the brain may tranmit a result in raw form ("I am being subjected to a left-to-right force") and/or order the muscles concerned so as to return to the original position.
This sensor (comprising elements of the inner ear and of the vertebral column) is "pre-stressed" by the earth's field of gravity: referential g. It is calibrated by the brain, through the memorizing of all prior situations experienced (body growth, weight, experience, cause and effect relationships, sight/attitude etc). As with any calibration, there is a zero reference. It is obtained when the axis of the vertebral column is colinear with g.
The notions of: "front/rear", "left/right" are related to the axes of the body: vertebral column.fwdarw.head and axis of sight.
By contrast, the notion of up and down is related more to the axis of the vector of the gravitational field than to the axis of the vertebral column. In a normal position, on the earth, "up" is equivalent to the "head", and "down" to the "feet". In zero gravity, this notion no longer has any meaning.
In conclusion, the human body undergoes accelerations in relative value, in general, and hence variations in attitude through a gravitational field, in particular. The brain makes an analysis and deduces the direction, it's value (positive or negative) and the variation in intensity therefrom. However, it cannot give an absolute value. It is here that simulation comes into play.
To avoid the oversizing of the components of the simulator, we are led to make an analysis of the function f=pedagogical value of the simulator/realism (see FIG. 1).
It is taken to be the case that normal driving, on the road or in all-terrain conditions for which the tank has been designed, represents 95% of all cases. The remaining 5% of the cases which would lead to perfect realism (collision, overturning, etc) are exceptional and would contribute no pedagogical value.
For example, in the above-mentioned 5% of cases, a possible configuration for a real tank would involve climbing a 30 degrees slope.
In the context of simulation, a tilt of the cabin of about 13 degrees is enough to give the driver the direction and value (positive or negative) of the tilt. As his brain does not have all the elements to determine the absolute value of the slope, it makes use of the other senses:
(a) sight: the image presented to him really forms an angle of 30 degrees with the horizontal;
(b) hearing: the noise of the engine is directly related to the angle of the slope, in this case 30 degrees;
(c) his memory: depending on prior experience
The brain is therefore deceived by the references that are very realistically imposed on it by the effects a, b and c, and the attitude of the body confirms the analysis made by the brain, simply by the the direction and its value (positive or negative).
These background points lead us to define a motion simulator that is simpler, more compact and less costly, and has performance characteristics that are optimized during use.
Presently existing high-performance hydraulic systems are used up to only 50% of their capacities in 95% of the simulation time and make it necessary to have an adapted infrastructure (reinforced concrete base, substantial floor-to-ceiling height, hydraulic power unit with sound isolation of the premises etc.).
The hydraulic systems require relatively specialized maintenance staff, the overall energy efficiency is low and requires refrigeration of the oil, and most of the components are relatively costly.
In conclusion, even by reducing the performance characteristics of present-day hydraulic systems, the cost reduction is not appreciable.


A non-volatile memory system includes a memory controller that receives commands from a host and identifies commands that can be executed in parallel. The order in which commands are received is recorded so that responses may be provided to the host in the same order in which the commands were received.

This application relates to the operation of re-programmable nonvolatile memory systems such as semiconductor flash memory systems, and, more specifically, to methods of accessing such systems when multiple commands are received from a host.
Solid-state memory capable of nonvolatile storage of charge, particularly in the foil of EEPROM and flash EEPROM packaged as a small form factor card, has recently become the storage of choice in a variety of mobile and handheld devices, notably information appliances and consumer electronics products. Unlike RAM (random access memory) that is also solid-state memory, flash memory is non-volatile, and retains its stored data even after power is turned off. Also, unlike ROM (read only memory), flash memory is rewritable similar to a disk storage device. In spite of the higher cost, flash memory is increasingly being used in mass storage applications. Conventional mass storage, based on rotating magnetic medium such as hard drives and floppy disks, is unsuitable for the mobile and handheld environment. This is because disk drives tend to be bulky, are prone to mechanical failure and have high latency and high power requirements. These undesirable attributes make disk-based storage impractical in most mobile and portable applications. On the other hand, flash memory, both embedded and in the form of a removable card is ideally suited in the mobile and handheld environment because of its small size, low power consumption, high speed and high reliability features.
Flash EEPROM is similar to EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory) in that it is a non-volatile memory that can be erased and have new data written or "programmed" into their memory cells. Both utilize a floating (unconnected) conductive gate, in a field effect transistor structure, positioned over a channel region in a semiconductor substrate, between source and drain regions. A control gate is then provided over the floating gate. The threshold voltage characteristic of the transistor is controlled by the amount of charge that is retained on the floating gate. That is, for a given level of charge on the floating gate, there is a corresponding voltage (threshold) that must be applied to the control gate before the transistor is turned "on" to permit conduction between its source and drain regions. In particular, flash memory such as Flash EEPROM allows entire blocks of memory cells to be erased at the same time.
In addition to flash memory, other forms of nonvolatile memory may be used in nonvolatile memory systems. For example Ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM, or FRAM) uses a ferroelectric layer to record data bits by applying an electric field that orients the atoms in a particular area with an orientation that indicates whether a "1" or a "0" is stored. Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) uses magnetic storage elements to store data bits. Phase-Change memory (PCME, or PRAM) such as Ovonic Unified Memory (OUM) uses phase changes in certain materials to record data bits. Various other nonvolatile memories are also in use or proposed for use in nonvolatile memory systems.
Nonvolatile memory systems, such as flash memory systems are commonly provided in the form of a memory card or flash drive that is removably connected with a variety of hosts such as a personal computer, a camera or the like, but may also be embedded within such host systems. When writing data to the memory, the host typically assigns unique logical addresses to sectors, clusters or other units of data within a continuous virtual address space of the memory system. Like a disk operating system (DOS), the host writes data to, and reads data from, addresses within the logical address space of the memory system. A memory controller is typically provided within the memory system to translate logical addresses received from the host into physical addresses within the memory array, where the data are actually stored, and then keeps track of these address translations. The memory controller may perform a variety of other functions also.
A memory controller is typically formed as an ASIC that is designed to perform the particular functions needed in a particular memory system. These functions may include address translation as described above, ECC, management of multiple memory chips, and communication with a host. Other functions may also be performed in an ASIC that is interposed between the nonvolatile memory and the host interface. In some cases, multiple chips rather than a single ASIC may be used to form a memory controller between the nonvolatile memory and the host interface. The functions performed by the ASIC may be performed by circuits in the ASIC that are dedicated to particular functions, or may be performed by general purpose circuits under the control of firmware that is specific to particular functions.
Typically, communication between a memory system and a host follows a predefined protocol with the host sending commands to the memory controller, and the memory controller causing the commands to be executed in the memory system. Examples of such commands are read and write commands. In some protocols, a host command must be executed and a response sent to the host before a subsequent command is sent. For example, where a host sends a command to read a particular portion of data, that data must be returned to the host before the host sends the next command. Similarly, where the host sends a write command, the data must be written, and some indication sent to the host to tell the host that it is written, before the host sends the next command. Such sequential execution may not utilize memory system resources efficiently and may result in unnecessary latency.

Memory system with command queue reordering


A network switch device comprises a packet processor configured to: write, to a memory, at least a payload of a multicast packet received via one of a plurality of ports, determine that a plurality of instances of the multicast packet are to be transmitted, generate, using an original header of the multicast packet, one or more additional headers, write, to the memory, a plurality of headers including (i) the original header, and (ii) the one or more additional headers in the memory, link each header in the plurality of headers stored in the memory to a location of the payload in the memory, and transmit a plurality of instances of the multicast packet via one or more ports including, for each instance of the multicast packet, reading (i) a respective one of the headers from the memory and (ii) the payload from the location in the memory.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
In one known approach, a packet is received by a network switch, and the packet is then stored in a buffer. When it is determined that the packet is a multicast packet and is to be transmitted via multiple N ports of the network switch, the entire packet is duplicated to provide N−1 additional copies of the packet, and the N−1 additional copies are stored in the buffer. The N multicast packets are then read from the buffer and transmitted via N respective ports.

Processing multicast packets in a network device


A display for a plurality of electrical fixtures, such as lighting fixtures. The display includes a slat board type mounting panel having a plurality of elongated generally horizontal grooves in the front surface thereof. A plurality of mounting plates are provided having flanges that are adapted to be retained within the grooves of the slat board for removably supporting the mounting plates on the front surface of the panel. An electrical wire is secured to the plates. A male plug attached to one end of the wire. A retainer is provided on opposite sides of the mounting panel to support the panel. The retainer has a U shaped channel therein. A series of electrical receptacles are mounted within the channel. The plug may be inserted into the receptacles for providing electrical power to the mounting plates. The retainer includes an opening therein that mates with the grooves of the slat board. The electrical wire extends along the grooves to the side edges of the panel and then inserted into the receptacle within the retainer. The retainer serves to support the mounting panel as well as retain the electrical connections for the display.

The display of the present invention preferably includes a main display panel which is composed of "slat board". Slat board is a common display material that includes a series of lateral "T" shaped or similar shaped grooves or slots in a rigid board. Retail stores typically use slat board on walls and the like to display their products. Fixtures are placed within the grooves and are movable along the length of the board. Typical fixtures include hanger racks, shelving and the like. Because of the multiple, elongated grooves in the panels, slat board type displays inherently offer versatility to the arrangement of the goods being displayed.
Previously, slat board type constructions have been used to display lighting fixtures and the like. Branham, Sr. et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,832 shows a wall mounting system having a slat board type structure to which various fixtures may be mounted. A retainer having a threaded bolt is inserted into the groove of the slat board to support a fixture, such as a lighting fixture. A switch may be provided within the groove. The switch forms a part of the electrical connection which extends from the fixture, along the groove and projects from the side edge of the board.
Branham, II U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,802 shows a structure for fastening display mounts, including lighting fixtures, to a slat board. The particular groove within the slat board has curved surfaces. A mounting plate having a resilient support is incorporated into the display.
McAtee U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,460 shows a display having a series of lighting fixtures mounted to a support board and canopy. There are no mounting plates incorporated into the display. The electrical connections from the lighting fixtures are inserted through openings within the board (and canopy). The wires extend through a hollow structure to a receptacle bank which is located behind the display.
It is also known to use slat board type constructions in a manner similar to that shown in the McAtee patent identified above. A mounting plate is movably secured in the grooves of the slat board. A wire is attached to the plate and provides an electrical connection to the lighting fixture mounted thereon. The portion of the wire connecting to the electrical source is projected through a hole drilled into the groove in the slat board and then connected to a receptacle bank located behind the display.


The invention describes a method for predicting the performance of the MLD receiver in MIMO channels. The method is based on the iterative principle where the performance of the MLD decoder is derived from that of an iterative receiver architecture with similar performance. The described Iterative MIMO Effective SNR (IMES) technique maps the performance of each MIMO channel realization into a set of effective SNR values for the different streams. This set of effective SNR values can then be used to provide link adaptation feedback to the transmitter so that the most suitable transmission format can be selected according to the characteristics of the propagation channel. Alternatively, this information can be used to adapt the receiver processing to the channel conditions, thereby making it possible, for example, to reduce the receiver power consumption in good signal conditions.

MIMO processing is now being used in a wide range of wireless communication systems. The adoption of MIMO techniques has been driven by the need to provide ever increasing data throughput to ever increasing numbers of users whilst simultaneously improving the system spectral efficiency. MIMO processing enables improvements in data throughput and spectral efficiency by making it possible for the transmitter, often referred to as base-station or node-B in cellular systems, to simultaneously transfer multiple information streams to the user. At the receiver, different techniques can be used to retrieve the transmitted information. Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (LMMSE) processing is a commonly used technique. The LMMSE receiver provides a reasonably good estimation performance with a fairly low complexity cost. Nevertheless, the LMMSE approach is sub-optimum and it is often desirable to use solutions with a performance closer to that of the MLD receiver in order to maximise the efficiency of wireless communication systems using MIMO processing. Unfortunately, predicting the performance of the MLD receiver, or that of techniques with a performance close to that of the MLD receiver, is a very challenging task when MIMO channels are considered.
Link level performance prediction has traditionally been used for two main applications, namely system-level simulations and generation of channel quality measurement feedback for link adaptation. Pre-coding based MIMO techniques used in wireless communication standards such as Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.16m-2011, "Amendment to IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Part 16: Air Interface for Broadband Wireless Access Systems—Advanced Air Interface"), 3GPP WCDMA (3GPP TS 25.211, "Physical Channels and Mapping of Transport Channels onto Physical Channels (FDD) (Release 7)", V7.10.0) and 3GPP LTE (3GPP TS 36.211, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation (Release 8)", V8.9.0) require the link level performance predicted by the receiver to be fed-back to the transmitter in the form of a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) metric (3GPP TS 36.213, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures (Release 8)", V8.8.0). The CQI information is then used by the transmitter to adapt the transmission format to the propagation conditions. The overall objective of such a link adaptation mechanism is to select the transmission format with the best efficiency and with a high probability of the receiver correctly retrieving the information. The efficiency of different transmission formats is usually measured as spectral efficiency, but other metrics, such as power efficiency, may also be considered. The CQI will usually include information on the modulation and coding scheme that can be used by the transmitter in order to achieve a target receiver detection performance. The target receiver performance can be expressed through a number of different metrics such as Bit Error Rate (BER), Block Error Rate (BLER), and throughput, to name a few.
The aim of the link level performance prediction techniques presented in this disclosure is to predict or estimate the performance of the MLD receiver in a given MIMO channel through a set of Signal to Noise Ratios (SNR) values. Each stream in the MIMO system is associated with a different SNR which corresponds to the SNR at which the demodulation performance of the receiver would be achieved in an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel. These SNR values, also referred to as effective SNR values, can then be used to estimate the BER and/or BLER performance of the receiver in the given MIMO channel using mapping functions derived from the AWGN channel performance. These mapping functions are specific to the technique used by the receiver to retrieve the transmitted information. They can be generated through link-level simulations or can be derived theoretically and typically need to be matched to characteristics of the modulation and coding scheme used by the transmitter. The receiver can therefore use the effective SNR values to generate the CQI feedback by identifying at least one transmission format which will allow the target performance to be achieved. In wireless communication systems using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), as is the case for example in 3GPP LTE, multiple SNR values may be generated for the different sub-carriers. These multiple SNR values then typically need to be combined into a single SNR value from which it is possible to infer the receiver performance across the entire transmitted signal bandwidth.
Hence, the problem addressed in this disclosure can be expressed as that of predicting the performance of the receiver in a given MIMO channel. This is relatively simple to achieve when the receiver implements the LMMSE equalizer. However, the problem of predicting the performance of the MLD receiver in a MIMO channel is a more complex one. The joint decoding of the multiple symbols transmitted by the different streams makes it difficult to come up with a simple metric that accurately predicts the decoding performance across all the transmitted streams. Moreover, it is highly desirable to limit the computational complexity of the performance prediction technique in order to enable real-time processing in receivers where stringent cost and power limitations may apply. When applied to the generation of the CQI values used to support link adaptation, the performance prediction techniques also need to be able to achieve good accuracy over the whole range of transmission formats supported by the transmitter. Different transmission formats will typically use different modulation schemes as well as different error correction coding rates and the performance prediction accuracy needs to be maintained across all the formats.
Several attempts have been made previously to derive mapping functions for the generation of effective SNR values in MIMO channels. These attempts have usually been derived by extending to the MIMO channel approaches originally designed for single transmit antenna systems (see for example R. Yaniv, et al., "CINR Measurement using the EESM method", IEEE C802.16e-05/141r1, March 2005; K. Sayana, J. Zhuang, K. Stewart, Motorola Inc, "Link Performance Prediction based on Mean Mutual Information per Bit (MMIB) of the LLR Channel [S]". May 2, 2007). Unfortunately these different techniques suffer from a number of limitations. First, these methods are not general since they assume that the same constellation is used on all the streams (H. Liu, L. Cai, H. Yang, D. Li, EESM Based Link Error Prediction for Adaptive MIMO-OFDM System, In Proc. Vehicular Technology Conference, 2007. VTC2007-Spring. IEEE 65th 22-25 Apr. 2007, pp. 559-563; K. Sayana, J. Zhuang, K. Stewart. "Short Term Link Performance Modeling for ML Receivers with Mutual Information per Bit Metrics", In Proc. GLOBECOM, 2008, pp. 4313-4318). Hence, these techniques cannot be applied to systems where different modulation schemes are used for the different streams. Moreover, the lack of a solid theoretical foundation for these different techniques leads to the need for complex look-up tables derived from link-level performance simulations.
Both the Mean Mutual Information per Bit (MMIB) and the Received Block Information Rate (RBIR) approaches require complex eigenvector decompositions in order to estimate the performance of the MLD receiver in MIMO channels and only achieve limited performance accuracy. The alternative Exponential Effective SNR Mapping (EESM) method has also been shown to lead to large inaccuracies when used to predict the performance of the MLD receiver in MIMO channels. When applied to MIMO channels, both EESM and MMIB techniques assume joint encoding of the MIMO streams and therefore predict the MLD performance as a single metric common to the different streams. Hence, these techniques cannot be used when the different streams are generated and encoded independently. An extension to the RBIR method, referred to as Extended RBIR (ERBIR), has recently been proposed for MIMO channels (J. Zhang, H. Zheng, Z. Tan, Y. Chen, L. Xiong, "Link Evaluation for MIMO-OFDM System with ML Detection", In Proc. IEEE International Conference on Communication (ICC) 2010). This method is still limited to configurations where identical modulation schemes are used for the different streams and hence isn't suitable for a number of applications. For example, the 3GPP LTE standard supports the transmission of streams with different modulation schemes and hence the ERBIR approach couldn't be applied for the CQI generation in cellular communication systems following the 3GPP LTE standard. Moreover, whilst the ERBIR approach shows good prediction accuracy, it suffers from a very high computational complexity. This is due to the need for the calculation of the exact average mutual information in the form of integral formulas that are channel and constellation dependent.
Finally, the different prior-art techniques usually assume frequency-domain multiplexing and rely on averaging channel realizations in the frequency domain to achieve a good prediction performance. Hence, the accuracy of these approaches is low in propagation channels with limited frequency diversity.
The invention described herein provides techniques for the prediction of the MLD receiver performance in MIMO channels. The techniques presented in this disclosure achieve good accuracy with a limited complexity. These methods calculate an effective SNR which represents the SNR in the AWGN channel which would lead to the same demodulation performance as that experienced in the MIMO channel. The methods presented in this document can be used in systems where different modulation schemes are transmitted on the multiple MIMO streams and do not make on any assumption on the error correction coding. The predicted receiver performance can be used to generate link adaptation feedback as well as to adapt the receiver processing to the characteristics of the propagation link.

Apparatus for MIMO channel performance prediction

MStar Semiconductor Inc. (Cayman Islands)