A system and method for providing complete non-judicial dispute resolution management and operation. The system includes an electronic architecture which receives, sorts, and stores data related to non-judicial dispute resolution. The architecture enables implementation and management of a full range of non-judicial dispute resolution procedures between two or more adverse parties to a dispute. The system is accessible electronically by wired and/or wireless communications. The architecture includes a management module which is configured to receive, sort and store dispute resolution data and to provide an internal continuous compilation of such data and new data generated during non-judicial dispute resolution procedures. The architecture also includes a reckoning module connected to the management module for receipt of dispute resolution data. The reckoning module is designed to implement a selected resolution procedure and to transmit to the management new data generated during the resolution procedure.

The present invention relates generally to dispute resolution and more specifically relates to a system for providing complete non-judicial dispute resolution management and procedures.
There are numerous conventional means whereby parties involved in a legal dispute may attempt to resolve such dispute, or settle the case. These means include, for example, using the public court system (including small claims court), or non-judicial dispute resolution. However, the public""s confidence in the court system seems to have deteriorated over the years. Moreover, the time required to bring a dispute to resolution has become inordinately long. Finally, and perhaps most import of all, the costs associated with a litigation are very high and, in many cases, discourage a legitimate complainant from seeking redress. Consequently, parties and, thus, the legal community have continuously sought to find xe2x80x9ca better wayxe2x80x9d to resolve disputes than through the courts.
In the age of computerization, attempts have been made within the legal community to streamline handling of disputes on behalf of claimants. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,687 to Wamsley, et al. discloses a technique for computerized management of a plaintiff""s personal injury case. The technique includes establishing works reflective of each phase of a personal injury claim, including a pre-negotiation phase, a technique to generate a demand letter and calculate settlement amounts based on information gathered in the record during handling of the claim. However, the Wamsley, et al. xe2x80x9cPersonal Injury Claim Management Systemxe2x80x9d does not provide an architecture for operation and management of non-judicially handled claims, and, thus, is sorely bereft of the capacity to service a significant number of disputes arising in our society. (In the context of the present invention, xe2x80x9cnon-judicialxe2x80x9d means originated and/or handled outside of the court systemxe2x80x94although a court may be involved at some point in the dispute, e.g., to sign a document, order implementation, etc).
In recent years the attempt to bypass the judicial system has resulted in systems and organizations to settle cases without going to court. As part of procedures developed to carry out settlement, parties have been offered the ability to have a dispute mediated, usually by a third party who can be referred to as a mediator. Mediation permits each party to tell its story and even propose a settlement figure when appropriate (which can be made known or kept secret by the mediator).
Another method of resolving a dispute outside the courts is by arbitration. Arbitration can be carried out by a single arbitrator or by a panel of arbitrators. The procedure used for arbitration can be somewhat complex, depending on the rules of arbitration agreed to by the parties. The level of participation by a mediator or an arbitrator (or panel of arbitrators) can vary widely depending on the scenario selected by the parties. Generally, this rather wide range of unspecified possibilities has been referred to as alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
As part of ADR, or adjunct thereto, parties have, from time to time, participated in blind-bid scenarios which mean that each party to a dispute submits a bid without the other party(ies) knowing its bid. The bids are evaluated with a view to settling the dispute. If the bids are sufficiently close or fall within a pre-arranged relationship, the dispute can be settled. If not, additional bidding can be provoked. Bid reception and evaluation can be effected by a judge, a mediator, an arbitrator, or even electronically. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,7615,269 to Micali, which describes an electronic communications method for resolving a transaction when bids from at least two parties come within a predetermined relationship. Similarly, an on line dispute resolution company, CyberSettle.Com Inc., has made available a web site which accepts three (3) bids from each party, compares the bids to determine whether they are within an agreed-upon range, and reports settlement or provokes a xe2x80x9clast chancexe2x80x9d bid.
In any event, even use of the extensive array of non-judicial dispute resolution techniques can prove to be unwieldy and/or cost-ineffective, especially from the perspective of an organization such as an insurance company and/or claims department and/or law firm which handles many (and varied) disputes on behalf of one or more parties. Non-judicial dispute resolution includes so many possible procedural schemes that it unduly complicates standard claim handling in a traditional judicial agency such as those enumerated in the previous sentence. Thus, there is a tremendous need for providing a system whereby a complete array of non-judicial dispute resolution techniques are simultaneously made available and managed.
The present invention is a unique system which enables adverse parties to conduct and manage a full array of non-judicial dispute resolution. The present invention includes an electronic architecture which receives, sorts, and stores data related to non-judicial dispute resolution. This architecture enables implementation and management of a full range of non-judicial dispute resolution procedures between two or more adverse parties to a dispute. xe2x80x9cFull range of non-judicial dispute resolution proceduresxe2x80x9d includes bid-style negotiations, mediation, and arbitration.
The system can be accessible electronically via wired and/or wireless communications, and is preferably accessible via the internet. In one particular embodiment, the system is accessible over the internet via a link provided in a web site of another entity. When wireless communications is used for access, any viable frequencies available from the electromagnetic spectrum can be used, e.g., radio frequency, microwave, UHF, and other frequencies.
The architecture itself includes a management module, configured to receive, sort and store dispute resolution data and to provide internal continuous compilation of such data and new data generated during non-judicial dispute resolution procedures.
The architecture also includes a reckoning module connected to and/or electronically associated with (e.g., including a computerized relationship) the management module for receipt of dispute resolution data, and is designed to implement a selected resolution procedure and to transmit to the management module new data generated during a resolution procedure.
The system can be accessed in response to the biographical data input by at least one of the parties. The biographical data can include personal and/or organization-identification information and/or one or more of an account number, username, a password, etc., and can be verified by the system.
In one embodiment, the access is a tiered leveled access having at least a program manager access and a program user access. The program manager access can include a plurality of selectable actions such as, for example and not limited hereby, adding users, modifying existing user data, transferring active cases from one user to another, activating users, modifying account registration data, browsing all disputes, generating detailed dispute reports, generating summary reports of disputes, browsing dispute resolution cases, as well as other actions which are used by a manager of non-judicial dispute resolutions, and any combination of one or more of the foregoing. The management module can provide relevant data to a program manager in response to an appropriate signal selected by the program manager.
In the case of program user access, a plurality of selectable options can be made available such as, e.g., adding a dispute, responding to a dispute, browsing disputes, generating dispute reports, generating summary reports, as well as any other options required by a case manager of a dispute and any combinations of one or more of such options. Other options can be included and the possibilities are not limited by those set forth above. The management module provides relevant data to the program user in response to the options selected by the user.
A further aspect of the present architecture is an administrative personnel access which enables required administrative personnel to select from one of a plurality of selectable choices. Such choices can include, but is not limited to, informing the parties of disputes submitted to the system which request their response, informing users of settled disputes, marking disputes active, generating prior dispute lists, generating activity reports for the system, providing billing information, generating summary reports for any or all accounts within the system, generating audit reports to ensure that the system is functioning properly, and any other choices required of an administrative personnel, and any combination of the foregoing. The management module provides relevant data to the administrative personnel in response to one or more of the choices selected by such personnel.
The management module of the present invention can also provide operational support to be used in connection the non judicial proceeding(s). For example, the system can provide reporting services in the event the proceedings require such services, e.g., in the event mediation or arbitration proceedings requiring a xe2x80x9crecordxe2x80x9d are used. The reporting services can be called upon for both on-line and off-line proceedings, and can include stenographic services, and all types of electronic reporting services such as audio, video, etc.
Another operational support available in the present invention is translation services and/or interpretation services. This support can also be rendered on-line or off-line, and can be made available for all types of non-judicial proceedings and possible in the present system.
Yet another operational support provided in the management module of the present invention is a vast array of structure settlement arrangements. For example, and are not limited hereby, a settlement arrangement can be structured for a pay out over time and/or fully funded by a third party (e.g., lending institution, factor, etc.). Moreover, the structured settlement feature of the invention can be made available at any time before, during, and/or after the non-judicial resolution proceeding(s).
The architecture also provides to the user a xe2x80x9csettle-onlyxe2x80x9d access. xe2x80x9cSettle-onlyxe2x80x9d access enables a party to a dispute to access the system for purposes of only attempting to resolve that dispute via the system and does not allow access to the management capabilities of the system. However, all data input by a xe2x80x9csettle-onlyxe2x80x9d user is routed through the management module for proper storage of data. Therefore, in response to settle-only access by a user, the management module provides relevant data to the reckoning module. Moreover, the system displays only the relevant data to a settle-only access user.
The architecture of the present invention further includes a claims-data storage and retrieval system which retains data relating to non-judicial dispute resolution and enables retrieval of data by category. The categories in the retrieval system include, but are not limited to, description of the nature of the dispute, settlement amount, venue, type of injury, body part injured, sex, age, occupation, geographical data, and any combination of one or more of the foregoing categories, and any other information capable of being stored in a data bank in an electronic system, e.g., computer system. Preferably the storage and retrieval system data is confidential.
Once the mode of non-judicial dispute resolution is selected, the management module provides relevant data to the reckoning module in response to the selection by one or both of the parties. When the resolution procedure is a bid-style negotiation, one or both of the parties can select either a xe2x80x9cblind bidxe2x80x9d or an xe2x80x9copen bidxe2x80x9d type of negotiation.
A profile prompter prompts a party selecting a dispute resolution procedure to indicate whether or not it is a plaintiff and/or defendant. The responding party also provides information in response to a prompt indicating the profile of the responding party. Depending on who the party is, i.e., plaintiff or defendant, the party then provides either a demand (as a plaintiff) or an offer (as a defendant). xe2x80x9cDemandsxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9coffersxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cbidsxe2x80x9d as used herein can include any matter which can be construed as xe2x80x9cconsiderationxe2x80x9d sufficient to support a promise or a contract. Consideration is something of value, e.g., an advantage, however slight, to one party, or an inconvenience, even though trifling, to one party. Consideration (considered as a proffer synonymously herein with xe2x80x9cbid,xe2x80x9d demand,xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cofferxe2x80x9d) can be, but is not limited to, monetary and non-monetary assets, ownership rights, personal rights, custody rights, liability and percentages thereof, etc.
Furthermore, the reckoning module preferably provides a pre-selected criteria for comparing the demand and the offer to determine whether or not the dispute can be resolved. If the pre-selected criteria is satisfied, the system can send a notification to the plaintiff and/or defendant of resolution.
Of the pre-selected criteria, the system can resolve the dispute for the value of the demand if the value of the demand is less than or equal to the offer, or, for the average between the demand and the offer if the demand is within a pre-selected percentage of the offer. For example, a pre-selected percentage range can be from about 5% to about 35%.
The system can also ask that the defendant provide a high value and low value to establish a resolution range. In this case, the dispute can be resolved for the value of the demand if the demand is between the high value and the low value of the range, or, for the low value of the resolution range if the demand is equal to or less than the low value. In this case, the low value can be a fixed value whereas the high value can be a changing value.
Other non-judicial dispute resolution procedures include on-line mediation and arbitration and off-line mediation and arbitration. On-line proceedings can be real time such that all parties and a mediator(s) or arbitrator(s) are in communication simultaneously. On-line proceedings are not limited to a real time scenario, and can be conducted via a format which permits delayed responses. Such formats can include, but are not limited to, chat room(s), bulletin board(s), etc. Off-line proceedings can be xe2x80x9cin-personxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cnot-in-person.xe2x80x9d In all of the aforementioned proceedings relevant material, such as evidence, can be transmitted electronically, again via wire and/or wireless communication (each party can also submit material via mail, delivery service, courier, etc.). Moreover, all or even a portion of the proceedings can be conducted via video transmission.
As the resolution procedure progresses, the reckoning module transmits new dated generated to the management module for compiling, sorting and storing. When the non-judicial dispute resolution procedure is a mediation, the management module provides relevant data to a mediator in response to a mediation selection. The mediation can be real-time on-line mediation wherein information (evidence or otherwise ) can be transmitted to the mediator electronically, e.g., by fax, by phone, video, and by computer (e-mail) when available, etc. When the mediation is off-line, at least some of the necessary information can be transmitted on-line by the same modes set forth above.
Similarly, when the non-judicial dispute resolution procedure is an arbitration, the management module provides relevant data to an arbitrator, or a board of arbitrators, in response to the selection to arbitrate. When the arbitration is real-time on-line arbitration, information (which can include evidence) can be sent electronically by telephone, fax, video and via computer (e-mail) when available, etc. When the arbitration is off-line, at least some of the information can be sent on-line by electronic communications.
It should be fully noted, that the system provides the ability of the non-judicial dispute resolution in the present case to respond to an election by one or more of the parties to move to a different non-judicial dispute resolution procedure regardless of the one which is chosen first. The election to go to a different resolution procedure can be made, for example, because the first method chosen has not succeeded.
Thus, one or more of the parties can enter into a bid-style negotiation which may not succeed; advance to a mediated (on or off-line); and/or move to an on or off-line arbitration proceeding. This entire procedure can be conducted seamlessly, that is to say without re-entry of data previously provided. Moreover, by command of the parties, information relating to value of demands and bids can be kept confidential as the parties proceed from one resolution procedure to another. Consequently, a case manager can take advantage of a full range of non-judicial dispute resolution techniques and have the ability to fully manage the case in each, and in all, of the different procedures selected.
While any fee structure can be provided for accessing and using the present invention, a preferred embodiment contemplates a fee structure which financially encourages each of the parties to resolve the dispute. One such structure requires each party to pay a certain amount to participate in the resolution proceeding(s). Thus, the plaintiff must pay a fee for submission of each demand and the defendant must pay a fee for submission of each offer. These fees can also be graduated to correspond to the financial magnitude of the dispute, e.g., a xe2x80x9cdog bitexe2x80x9d case to a serious injury or even a death case. A variety of schemes can be employed, but this feature of the invention financially rewards resolution and financially penalizes non-resolution by fee structure.
The present invention also includes separate aspects of the system which are unique to managing and conducting non-judicial dispute resolution, such as the system for managing the non-judicial dispute resolution separately (another aspect of it is the electronic architecture for managing non-judicial dispute resolution). Furthermore, the present invention includes the concept of maintaining an on-line real-time updated database for managing non-judicial dispute resolutions which includes the management module configured as described above, e.g., to receive, sort and store dispute resolution data and to provide internal continuous compilation of the data into searchable records. This management module can be updated in response to changes or additions to said compilation of data.
Other aspects of the present invention include, separately, a system for managing non-judicial dispute resolution which includes an electronic interface along with multiple types of access to an electronic architecture as described hereinabove.
The present invention also includes a method of managing non-judicial dispute resolution by providing and maintaining an electronic interface having multiple types of access to an electronic architecture as fully described hereinbefore.
Another aspect of the method of the present invention includes managing non-judicial disputes by providing an accessible architecture set forth above, receiving dispute resolution data from one or more of the parties, storing the data and prompting the parties to implement the full range of non-judicial dispute resolution procedures as also described hereinbefore.
The present invention also includes a method of managing non-judicial dispute resolutions by accessing an architecture having non-judicial dispute resolution data stored therein and retrieving data relating to the dispute, reviewing the stored data to determine if an action is needed, and selecting a plurality of selectable choices and action to be performed with respect to the data.
As a result of the present invention, disputants are able to call upon a full range of dispute resolution techniques without the necessity of engaging in the judicial process. Tremendous advantages are available as a result of this new innovation.
For example, parties no longer are required to avail themselves of the services of counsel. This advantage reduces significantly the cost associated with resolving disputes. Furthermore, in the event the parties do not retain attorneys, at least two additional personalities to the emotional and psychological mix of a dispute would be eliminated, thereby reducing the time usually associated with resolving a dispute.
Another advantage realized as a result of the present invention is that organizations charged with the duty of resolving disputes, e.g., insurance companies, claims departments, law firms, etc. are now able to manage and conduct non-judicial dispute resolution without the necessity of having to provide a complete on-site installation of a non-judicial case management infrastructure. Such infrastructure usually includes docketing systems, electronic (e.g., computer) tracking and reminder systems, etc. The present invention also reduces the need for personal communication between advocates which are required in the absence of such a non-judicial dispute resolution system.
Another advantage of the present invention is the ability to actively negotiate a high volume of cases in a short period of time the present invention virtually eliminates the need to retrieve and review individual xe2x80x9chard copyxe2x80x9d files of cases.
Thus, applicants have described what are believed to be some of the advantages of the present invention, but other advantages will be realized in view of the following detailed description and drawings provided hereto. The scope of the invention is set forth in the claims which follow the detailed description.

System and method for providing complete non-judicial dispute resolution management and operation


A solar cell module includes a plurality of electric power generation units. Each of the plurality of electric power generation units includes a solar cell element and a light guide unit having a first surface and a second surface positioned opposite to the first surface and configured to guide light toward the solar cell element between the first surface and the second surface. The plurality of the light guide units included in the plurality of electric power generation units include a first light guide unit having a first fluorescent material that emits first light upon receipt of light incident from the first surface, and also includes at least one light guide unit of a second light guide unit having a second fluorescent material that emits second light having a different wavelength from the first light upon receipt of light incident from the first surface and a third light guide unit in which a shape of the second surface is designed so that part of light incident from the first surface is reflected from the second surface and travels in a direction non-parallel to that before reflection.

General solar power generation apparatuses have a form in which a plurality of solar cell panels are installed over a surface so as to be oriented toward the sun. A solar cell apparatus of this type is placed, for example, on the roof, exterior wall, or the like of a building. For example, as disclosed in PTL 1, there is also a solar power generation apparatus which can be used as a window.
The solar power generation apparatus in PTL 1 includes a light guide unit having a fluorescent material dispersed therein, and a solar cell element. The light guide unit has a light receiving surface on which light is incident, and an end surface oriented in a direction different from the light receiving surface. The solar cell element is located on the end surface of the light guide unit. The fluorescent material in the light guide unit emits fluorescent light upon receipt of light incident from the light receiving surface. The solar cell element receives on the light receiving surface, such as a semiconductor layer, the fluorescent light propagating in the light guide unit toward the end surface, and generates electric power.

Solar cell module and solar power generation apparatus


A detector includes a light source configured to emit measurement light, a flow cell incorporating a cell channel through which a sample solution flows inside, a photodetector configured to detect light from the flow cell, an optical system configured to guide light from the light source to the flow cell and guide light from the flow cell to the photodetector, and a flow cell accommodating part configured to cover the flow cell so as to spatially separate the flow cell from the optical system. Of the side surfaces of the flow cell accommodating part, the side surfaces facing the light incident surface and the light exit surface of the flow cell are formed from wall surfaces made of a light transmissive material, or sealed by a light transmissive plate material.

Many liquid chromatography detectors use light. A cell channel is placed on the optical path of light, and a sample flows through the cell channel, thereby detecting the reaction (absorbance or refractive index) between the sample and light (see Patent Document 1). An absorptiometer detector is known as a typical liquid chromatography detector. The absorptiometer detector includes a flow cell incorporating a flow channel (cell channel) through which the sample solution eluted from the separation column flows. The flow cell is then irradiated with light in a predetermined wavelength range from the light source, and the intensity of the light transmitted through the flow cell is measured by the photodetector to obtain the absorbance in the predetermined wavelength range, thereby quantitatively determining the sample component concentration of a sample solution flowing in the cell channel.
In such a detector, in addition to the flow cell, an optical system for causing light from the light source to enter the flow cell and guiding the light exiting from the flow cell to the detector is accommodated in a common housing. The inside of the housing is formed into a substantially closed system to minimize the intrusion of light other than measurement light from outside into the housing and the influence of the atmosphere outside the detector on the optical system.


A global positioning system (GPS) receiver includes a phase locked loop that locks to the carrier signal from the GPS satellite at an offset frequency in order to recover the GPS data. The loop includes a phase shifter driven by a system clock through a synchronous clock inversion circuit. The phase of the system clock is periodically inverted synchronously with respect to the clock in order to compensate for the offset loop frequency so that the loop does not lose lock because of the offset error.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to spread spectrum communication, particularly with respect to Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers where phase lock is maintained at an offset frequency in order to recover data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The GPS is a navigation system utilizing a plurality of satellites in diverse orbital positions. Each satellite transmits an L-band carrier bi-phase modulated by a 50 baud navigation data message. The spectrum of the carrier with the data modulated thereon is spread by bi-phase modulating the carrier with a spectrum spreading Pseudo Randon Noise (PRN) code identifying the satellite. In the present day system, the carrier frequency is 1575.42 MHz and the PRN code has a clock rate of 1.023 MHz with a code length of 1023 bits. The code repeats the predefined sequence thereof once each millisecond (1 KHz repetition rate).
In order to receive the GPS signal structure, a GPS receiver generates an exact duplicate of the spreading code and aligns it in time to the receive code using correlation techniques. Specifically, code correlation at the receiver involves the application of the identical code to a mixer in the receiver RF section which inserts phase shifts into the IF frequencies tending to reconstruct the carrier or "despread" the received signal. The phase of the local code is incrementally shifted until the bi-phase mixing of the locally generated code exactly coincides with the satellite bi-phase modulated received signal. The receiver thus removes the spreading code from the carrier (unmodulates the carrier) leaving only the bi-phase 50 baud data message thereon. The data message is used by the GPS receiving equipment to solve the navigation problem.
As is appreciated, the signal received from the orbiting satellite often contains a rapidly varying doppler frequency component which must be tracked by the receiver phase locked loop. In order to demodulate the data message, the GPS receiver must phase lock thereto and coherently detect each bit. Prior art methods of recovering the data and the shortcomings thereof are described in said Ser. No. 290,967, and Ser. No. 318,583. For example, the Costas loop, which has twice the complexity and therefor twice the cost and size of the present invention, extracts the data by locking directly thereto.
In the receiver of said Ser. No. 290,967 and Ser. No. 318,583, the output of the phase locked loop provides a constant offset frequency instead of the conventional DC term to provide a data modulated carrier for the data detection circuitry. The receiver phase locked loop tends to track and follow the doppler frequency from the received orbiting satellite. However, the phase error that remains from the offset frequency would, if uncompensated, precipitiously result in lock failure. This occurs because the frequency of the loop voltage controlled oscillator is controlled by a signal containing an offset (caused by the loop offset frequency) with respect to the oscillator control signal appropriate for stable tracking of the receive frequency. Some prior designs continuously exercise the correlation lock algorithm to track out the error frequency. This approach results in greatly increased loading on the receiver processing circuitry with a concomitant substantial increase in the cost thereof. Once the correlation lock is achieved, it is desirable to terminate the correlation algorithm thus greatly reducing the overhead of the receiver processing elements with a concomitant lower cost thereof.
In prior art designs, similiar to that of said Ser. No. 290,967 and Ser. No. 318,583, pulse stealing circuits are utilized to compensate for the loop offset frequency. Such pulse stealing circuits involve, for example, the periodic removal of a state in a programmable counter circuit that forms part of the loop phase shifter circuitry. The loop phase shifter circuitry effects the phase adjustments of the local oscillator relative to the received signal in endeavoring to achieve loop lock both during the execution of the code correlation algorithm and after the algorithm is terminated so as to maintain lock on the received carrier. The prior art design of such systems require a predetermined frequency to operate the phase correction circuitry in order to effect periodic phase corrections of a predetermined number of nanoseconds every predetermined number of milliseconds. At high doppler frequencies, the granularity of the correction may be marginal for maintaining lock. In order to increase the resolution, it would be necessary to increment the phase by, for example, one-half the number of nanoseconds at one-half the periodicity. Such an increase in offset frequency compensation resolution would necessitate that the system clock frequency be doubled.
The receiver of Ser. No. 290,867 and Ser. No. 318,583 utilize this pulse stealing technique to control phase lock to the doppler frequency. The system design utilizes a maximum frequency of 10 MHz to operate the phase correction circuitry. To use this design for such phase corrections, the phase should be retarded by 100 nanoseconds every 308 milliseconds. At high doppler frequencies, this granularity is marginal for maintaining lock. In order to increase the resolution, it would be necessary to retard the phase by 50 nanoseconds every 154 milliseconds requiring that the frequency of the system clock be increased to 20 MHz. Such an increased clock frequency would adversely effect system reliability and producibility. The complexity of the design would have doubled.
The disadvantages of the prior art approaches have a substantial economic impact by resulting in added complexity, increased development time, double the system software throughput at high interrupt rates and increased parts count. These considerations apply to the Costas loop designs requiring two separate loops with separate local oscillator sections (in-phase and quadrature) as well as to the squaring loop designs utilizing an inordinately high frequency system clock to effect system off-lock error compensation at the resolution required at the normally high doppler frequencies encountered.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,006; issued June 26, 1984; entitled "Global Positioning System Receiver", by R. E. Maine discloses a GPS receiver similar to the receivers discussed above and suffering from the disadvantages described. Said U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,006 is incorporated herein by reference.

Spread spectrum phase locked loop with phase correction


The apparatus is intended for dispensing liquid from an inverted container having a neck through which the liquid is discharged, and includes a housing 31 provided with a mounting arrangement 32 for receiving and supporting the inverted container. A feed tube 34 is arranged to project into the neck of said liquid container to conduct liquid to a reservoir, and cover flaps 62 and 63 are biassed together by tension springs 69 and 70 to cover the feed tube 34 upon removal of the liquid container. The feed tube may alternatively be covered by a resilient diaphragm.

Bottled water dispensers are usually arranged to receive the neck of an inverted bottle filled with clean water. Sometimes, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4 699 188 and WO 90/03919 for example, the bottle is provided with a cap through which a feed tube is inserted to discharge the water from the bottle. When the bottle is removed the feed tube remains projecting upwards, fully exposed, ready to receive a fresh bottle.
There is currently a requirement to maintain strict hygiene in water dispensers, and an aim of the present invention may be viewed as being to improve the hygiene of such dispensers.

Apparatus for dispensing liquid from an inverted container


A method to adapt a software application for a geographical region. The invention includes receiving, by a computer processor and from at least one of a plurality of users of the software application, a first translation of a localizable item in a user interface (UI) menu of the software application, wherein the first translation is based on a language of the geographical region, generating, by the computer processor, a tally of the first translation from the plurality of users, presenting, to the plurality of users via a plurality of instantiations of the UI menu in response to the tally exceeding a pre-determined count, the localizable item using the first translation, receiving, from the plurality of users via the plurality of instantiations of the UI menu, feedback regarding the accuracy of the first translation, and classifying, based on the feedback, the first translation as an approved translation of the localizable item.

In computing, the terms "internationalization" and "localization" refer to adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market. Internationalization is the process of designing a software application so that the application can be adapted to various languages and regions without substantial engineering changes. Localization is the process of adapting internationalized software for a specific region or language by adding locale-specific components and translating text based on a language specific to the region.

Software localization through user contribution


An extra short transmission shaft has two telescopically fitted tubular shaft sections (6,7) having diameters (D',D) substantially greater than the basic diameters of coupling forks (8,9) associated with respective ends of the shaft sections. The increased diameters of the shaft sections ensure a greater torque transmitting contact area between meshed teeth formed on such sections, this strengthening the coupling formed thereby and/or permitting the length of the meshed teeth, and thus of the shaft itself, to be reduced to a minimum without unduly affecting the coupling strength. Preferably, each of the coupling forks is integral with the free end of its respective shaft section.

The present invention refers to an extra short transmission shaft.
Conventional transmission shafts normally comprise a tubular section and a solid bar telescopically fitted into the tubular section. Longitudinal flutes or teeth are machined in part of the extension of the solid bar, which cooperate or mesh with corresponding flutes or teeth machined on the inner surface of the tubular section so as to permit relative longitudinal movement therebetween while ensuring transmission of rotary movements.
Respective coupling forks are connected to the free ends both of the tubular section and of the solid bar, the forks being solid and dimensioned to be sufficiently robust to support forces and stresses developed during use. They are thus relatively large and heavy.
The coupling forks are connected at their free ends to respective coupling flanges or forks by means of interposed crossheads that are articulated about orthogonal gudgeon pins so as to form a cardan.
One of the coupling flanges may be coupled to a drive shaft component whereas the other may be connected to a driven component, such as a differential, to permit the transmission of power and torque.
Such coupling devices are used to connect nonaligned intercepting axles or shafts, that is to say, shafts being permanenty angled with respect to each other.
Shafts in general are forced to undergo continuous stress inversions which, within a relatively short period of use, may lead to sudden rupture due to fatigue. Apart from this, extreme pressure is applied to the bearings which causes overheating and sometimes more serious problems.
Problems of such a nature that are found in the above type of mechanism are caused, amongst others, by differences of level between the drive and driven components due to the small axial relative movement between the sections of the transmssion shaft, as well as to the development of elevated torsional stresses therebetween concentrated over the small area of contact between the torque transmitting flutes or teeth.
In view of such elevated torque in a relatively small contact area, that is to say, the surfaces of relative movement of the flutes or teeth on the tubular sections, the specific pressure on the flanks of the teeth frequently attains such a magnitude that, instead of sliding, the flanks become rigid and jam whereby the shaft sections begin to shift together as a single part and transmit such movement also to the drive component, for example, the engine which is supported on mounting blocks. This movement causes mechanical misadjustments that produce trepidations, vibrations and irregularities in the acceleration control of the engine.
Many studies have been made with a view to diminish or even eliminate the friction--and the consequent jamming--between the teeth of the transmission shaft sections. However, up to the moment satisfactory results have not been achieved.

Extra short telescopic transmission shaft with shaft section diameters greater than coupling fork diameters


A hydrolyzed divinylarene dioxide resin composition including the reaction product of (a) a divinylarene dioxide, and (b) water; a process for making the hydrolyzed divinylarene dioxide resin composition; and a curable hydrolyzed divinylarene dioxide resin composition made therefrom. The cured product made from the above hydrolyzed divinylarene dioxide resin composition offers improved properties such as a lower viscosity and a high heat resistance compared to known cured products prepared from known epoxy resins.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hydrolyzed divinylarene dioxide resins; and polymers prepared from such hydrolyzed divinylarene dioxide resins.
2. Description of Background and Related Art
It is known to hydrolyze epoxy resins such as by the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,335. Conventional epoxy resins can be hydrolyzed to convert the resins terminal epoxide groups into glycols. The derived glycol resins are useful intermediates in the preparation of polymers such as polyurethanes and polyesters. Partial hydrolysis of epoxy resins converts a portion of the resins terminal epoxide groups into glycols which enhance the reactivity of the resins remaining epoxide groups with curing agents such as amines. However, said hydrolysis increases the viscosity of the derived epoxy resin.
The most commonly partially hydrolyzed epoxy resin is bisphenol A diglycidyl ether. The use of aliphatic epoxy resins or monofunctional epoxy compounds having a lower viscosity imparts reduced heat resistance in their derived thermosets. Thus, while epoxy resins based on aliphatic epoxy resins can have lower viscosity the resulting polymers based on conventional hydrolyzed aliphatic epoxy resins do not maintain a high heat resistance after polymerization.
It is therefore desired to provide a novel hydrolyzed epoxy resin composition prepared from a divinylarene dioxide; wherein the hydrolyzed epoxy resin has a lower viscosity than those based on conventional hydrolyzed aromatic or aliphatic glycidyl ethers (e.g. less than about 5,000 mPa-s), and which can be reacted with curing agents and/or catalysts to form an epoxy resin thermoset, wherein the derived thermoset exhibits a high heat resistance (e.g. a Tg greater than about 50° C.) upon crosslinking the hydrolyzed epoxy resin composition.


A design support system utilizes an information processor for supporting a printed board design. The design support system includes a first unit for designing a printed board that includes at least a ground layer. The design support system also includes a second unit for finding at least one resonant frequency for the ground layer based on information of a resonance-significant size of the ground layer. This information can be used to suppress electromagnetic interference from a printed board.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a design support system utilizing an information processor for supporting a design of a printed board, and a method of supporting a design of a printed board, as well as a design support program to be implemented by the design support system. The present invention more particularly relates to a design support system for supporting a design of a printed board for suppressing electromagnetic interference from a printed board, and a method of supporting a design of a printed board for suppressing electromagnetic interference from a printed board, as well as a design support program to be implemented by the design support system for suppressing electromagnetic interference from a printed board.
2. Description of the Related Art
Undesired electromagnetic wave radiated or emitted from electric, electronic or electron devices may cause electromagnetic interference. The electromagnetic interference may be influential to any broadcastings and any communications. Various national regulations to the electromagnetic interference have been established in various countries. Some international regulations have also been established. CISPR international regulation is a typical one of the existent international regulations.
A frequency band, which is at present subject to the regulation, is ranged from 30 MHz through 1 GHz. It is necessary for manufacturing companies to suppress the electromagnetic interference of their products into a regulatory acceptable range. A measurement of the electromagnetic interference of the final products is made in accordance with the regulation. The measurement is thus made after the final products have been completed, and is sometimes made just before shipping of the final products. In case, just before shipping of the final products, it can be confirmed that the final products do not satisfy the regulations for the electromagnetic interference. A prompt counter-measurement thereto is needed, wherein additional parts may be placed to the products or a redesign of the products or a modification to the products may be made alternatively. These counter-measurements may cause some delay in shipping the final products allowable in the regulations for the electromagnetic interference, or some increase in the manufacturing costs.
Another method for solving the above problems was proposed, wherein a system and a method of designing a printed board adopted to suppress the electromagnetic interference. The printed board is the main factor for causing the electromagnetic interference. The other design support system for the printed board has an additional design function for suppressing the electromagnetic interference. Japanese laid-open patent application No. 10-49568 discloses a circuit board design method and a storage medium. Japanese laid-open patent application No. 10-91663 also discloses a printed board computer-aided design system.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart of respective steps involved in a conventional layout method for the printed board disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent application No. 10-49568. It is considered that the electromagnetic interference caused by electromagnetic wave emitted from signal lines on the printed board is dominant for the electromagnetic interference problem with the printed board. In this viewpoint, a quantity of radiation of the electromagnetic wave causing the electromagnetic interference from the signal lines is estimated or calculated. If the calculated quantity of radiation exceeds the upper limit, then any counter-measure is made and an optimum layout for realizing the counter-measure is also decided.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view explaining operations of the conventional printed board CAD system disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent application No. 10-91663. If a wiring is designated on the CAD system, then a quantity of radiation of the electromagnetic wave causing the electromagnetic interference from the designated wiring is calculated by the CAD system based on given information about signal waveform associated with the designated wiring. Subsequently, another wiring is designated and then the same operations as described above are again made. Those processes are sequentially made for some or all of the wirings on the printed board, whereby a distribution in the calculated quantity of the electromagnetic interference over two-dimensional positions is obtained.
This two-dimensional distribution is visibly displayed for identifying the positions of the signal wirings emitting the electromagnetic waves causing the electromagnetic interference. This makes it easy to take an possible effective counter-measure to the electromagnetic interference.
The above described two conventional design support systems are adopted to suppress electromagnetic wave radiation from the signal wirings on the printed board. This electromagnetic wave radiation is so called to as xe2x80x9cnormal mode radiationxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdifferential mode radiationxe2x80x9d. A xe2x80x9ccommon mode radiationxe2x80x9d is different from the xe2x80x9cnormal mode radiationxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdifferential mode radiationxe2x80x9d. This xe2x80x9ccommon mode radiationxe2x80x9d also causes the electromagnetic interference from the printed board. In majority cases, the xe2x80x9ccommon mode radiationxe2x80x9d may be dominant over the xe2x80x9cnormal mode radiationxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdifferential mode radiationxe2x80x9d.
A xe2x80x9cnormal mode currentxe2x80x9d causes the xe2x80x9cnormal mode radiationxe2x80x9d. A xe2x80x9ccommon mode currentxe2x80x9d causes the xe2x80x9ccommon mode radiationxe2x80x9d. The xe2x80x9cnormal mode currentxe2x80x9d and the xe2x80x9ccommon mode currentxe2x80x9d are high frequency currents which cause the electromagnetic interference. The xe2x80x9cnormal mode currentxe2x80x9d on the printed board means paired currents with the same quantity, which flow through a signal wiring and a ground plane respectively and in opposite directions to each other or in anti-parallel directions to each other. For example, the first one of the paired currents flows through the signal wiring in a first direction, and the second one of the paired currents flows through the ground plane in a second direction opposite to or anti-parallel to the first direction. The xe2x80x9cnormal mode currentxe2x80x9d may also be so called to as xe2x80x9cloop currentxe2x80x9d.
FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of explaining the normal mode current and the common mode current. The normal mode current is represented by a broken line. The common mode current is represented by a real line. First and second large scale integrated circuits LSI1 and LSI2 have a upper level than a ground plane. The first and second large scale integrated circuits LSI1 and LSI2 are inter-connected to each other through a horizontally extending signal wiring or interconnection which has the particular level upper than the ground plane. Each of the first and second large scale integrated circuits LSI1 and LSI2 is also connected to the ground plane through a vertically extending signal wiring or interconnection.
The normal mode current flows from the first large scale integrated circuit LSI1 through the horizontally extending signal wiring to the second large scale integrated circuit LSI2. Further, the normal mode current flows from the second large scale integrated circuit LSI2 through the vertically extending signal wiring to the ground plane. The normal mode current flows through the ground plane in a direction opposite to or anti-parallel to the direction along which the normal mode current flows through the horizontally extending signal wiring which inter-connects the first and second large scale integrated circuits LSI1 and [LSI2. The normal mode current further flows through the vertically extending signal wiring to the first large scale integrated circuit LSI1. As a result, the normal mode current flows so as to draw a loop in a vertical plane which is defined between the ground plane and the horizontally extending signal wiring different in level from the ground plane.
The common mode current flows in the ground plane. The common mode current is a differential current between a first part of the normal mode current flowing through the horizontally extending signal wiring and a second part of the normal mode current flowing through the ground plane, when the first anti second parts of the normal mode current are made different in quantity from each other by a certain cause. If a balance in current quantity is kept between the first and second parts of the normal mode current, then any differential current or common mode current does not flow. If the balance is lost by any cause, then the differential current or common mode current flows through the ground plane.
The normal mode current flows the looped or closed circuit. The common mode current flows through the two-dimensional space provided by the ground plane and may flow through a cable which is connected to the ground plane.
A distance between the horizontally extending signal wiring and the ground plane is so short that electromagnetic fields generated by the first and second parts of the normal mode current cancel each other, wherein the first and second parts of the normal mode current are opposite in phase to each other and have the same current quantity. If the current quantity of the normal mode current is small, a generated electromagnetic interference may be so small as being ignorable.
The common mode current, however, does not draw such a narrow loop that different parts of the common mode current cancel electromagnetic fields generated by the opposite parts. The common mode current is not limited in current path and is free to flow on two-dimensional space provided by the ground plane, for which reason the common mode current is likely to draw a wide loop which allows a certain or strong electromagnetic radiation.
It is relatively easy to have an accurate grasp of the normal mode current as flowing through the limited one-dimensional space provided by the signal wiring or interconnection. In contrast, the accurate cause for generating the common mode current has been unclear yet. The common mode current is extremely smaller in current quantity than the normal mode current. This makes it difficult to have an accurate grasp of a current path of the common mode current. For example, it was the conventional common sense that the normal mode radiation or the differential mode radiation may easily be suppressed by the design and layout of the product, but it is difficult to suppress the common mode radiation, for which reason the electromagnetic interference property of the product depends mainly on the common mode radiation.
Any effective design measure for suppressing the common mode current or the common mode radiation had not been developed before the present invention was invented by the present inventors.
In the above circumstances, the development of a novel free from the above problems is desirable.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel design support system for designing a printed board free from the above problems.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel design support system for designing a printed board which is adopted to suppress a common mode radiation and a common mode current.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a novel method of designing a printed board free from the above problems.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method of designing a printed board which is adopted to suppress a common mode radiation and a common mode current.
It is further more object of the present invention to provide a novel computer program implemented for designing a printed board free from the above problems.
It is more over object of the present invention to provide a novel computer program implemented for designing a printed board which is adopted to suppress a common mode radiation and a common mode current.
The present invention provides a design support system including a basic functional block for designing a printed board including at least a ground layer; and a first additional functional block for finding at least one resonant frequency to the ground layer based on an information of a resonance-significant size of the ground layer.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following descriptions.

System and method for designing a printed board adapted to suppress electromagnetic interference


A flat-bed scanner in combination with a sheet feeder. The flat-bed scanner includes a first glass window having a top surface and a second glass window having a top surface. A height step is formed without increasing the difficult between the top surfaces of the first and second glass windows. When the sheet feeder is placed on the flat-bed scanner, the scanned documents may pass the first glass window smoothly, consequently, good scanning quality may be obtained.

FIG. 1 discloses a feeder 10 being placed on a scanner 20 and the feeder 10 includes an upper guide plate 12 and two low guide plates 14, 16 located therein so as to define a passage 18 for feeding the sheets. When the feeder 10 is installed on the scanner 20, the low guide plates 14, 16 contact the glass window 22 of the scanner 20. When a document 24 is fed and pass the passage 18, the document is scanned by a scanning module set 23.
Because the low guide plate 16 has a certain thickness so that an end 17 of the low plate 16 protrudes from the glass window 22 and the document is blocked by the end 17 when it is fed.
The low guide plate 14 is located close to a surface of the glass window 22 and an end 15 of the low guide plate 14 protrudes from the glass window 22. However, the height difference between the end 15 and the glass window 22 is helpful for the feed of the document 24.
In order to resolve the problem of the jamming of the document 24, arranging the end 17 of the low guide plate 16 to be lower than the glass window 22 is a reasonable way.
FIG. 2 discloses that a first glass window 26 and a second glass window 28 are installed on the scanner 20. The first glass window 26 and the second glass window 28 are located in separate and a gap 25 is defined between the first glass window 26 and the second glass window 28. By this arrangement, the end 17 of the low guide plate 16 can be extended into the gap 25 and is located below the surface of the first glass window 26.
The two separate first glass window 26 and second glass window 28 make the volume of the scanner to be bulky and require two times of assembly for the assemblers.
FIG. 3 discloses a recess 27 is defined in the glass window 22 and a block 29 is engaged with the recess 27. The end 17 of the low guide plate 16 contacts the block 29. When the document 24 is fed, the block 29 guides the document 24 to move toward the low guide plate 16 smoothly.
The recess 27 requires two times of machining on the surface of the glass window 22 and this increases the manufacturing cost of the glass window 22. The block 29 protrudes from the glass window 22 and jams the feeding of the document 24.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,095 discloses a small piece of glass window is adhered on a large glass window so as to form a height difference in FIG. 8. The thickness of the small glass window is required to be thin so as to keep the scope of the area to be scanned in the effective focal depth, thereby causing breakage during adhering. Alternatively, the area where the small glass window is to be adhered has to be maintained in a high standard of cleanness, or the dust located between the two glass windows affects the quality of scanning.

Flat-bed scanner used in combination with a sheet feeder field of the invention


Provided is a data communication method of establishing a plurality of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connections between a first information processing device and a second information processing device and communicating each piece of data, which is divided for each prescribed unit, through the plurality of established TCP connections. In the method, the first information processing device dynamically changes the number of TCP connections with the second information processing device by notifying connection-upper-limit information, which represents the upper limit of the number of TCP connections to be established with the second information processing device, to the second information processing device, and by changing the connection-upper-limit information to be notified.

The present disclosure relates to a data communication method and an information processing device capable of establishing a plurality of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connections between a server device and a client device and communicating each piece of data, which is divided for each prescribed unit, through the plurality of TCP connections.
In the related art, there is a widely used method of communicating web pages and contents from the service on the Internet through HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). For example, it is possible to perform download (GET) or upload (PUT) of data through HTTP.
Generally, HTTP is performed on a single TCP. The TCP is a transport capable of asynchronous bidirectional communication. In HTTP, an information processing device as a client and an information processing device as a server interchange the requests for the download (GET) or the upload (PUT) of the data or the replies to the requests through a single TCP connection. Specifically, the client transmits the upload request (PUT request), and then transmits the data to be uploaded subsequently to the PUT request. On the other hand, when the client transmits the download request (GET request), the server transmits the reply to the GET request, and transmits the data which is downloaded subsequently to the reply.
Here, the throughput per one TCP under the environment, which is a sufficiently large bandwidth and in which delay is large, depends on the method of the flow control of the TCP. Here, the maximum throughput is obtained by the receive buffer size per socket/RTT (Round Trip Time, the time necessary for the round trip of a packet). When the maximum throughput of the TCP is limited by the above factors, under the environment which is a sufficiently large bandwidth and in which delay is large, there is a concern that the original ability of the link is not sufficiently exhibited.
For this reason, there has been proposed SPDY which is a standard as a communication protocol of the Internet contents in replacement of HTTP (for example, refer to the online document "SPDY" on the Internet <URL: http://www.chromium.org/spdy> (Searched on Oct. 18, 2010)). In SPDY, there is an improvement in that it is possible to efficiently transmit various contents of the Internet even one TCP by changing the layer of HTTP. SPDY provides a clue to solve problems caused by HTTP (for example, it is necessary to complete the communication of the data in sequence of the requests, and so on) and a clue to enable a browser to perform efficient pre-reading.
Further, there has been proposed a method of transmitting data in parallel through HTTP by using the plurality of TCP connections (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-57482).

Data communication method and information processing device


A thumb pick formed as a unitary one-piece body having a substantially inflexible pick point portion including at least one slot extending between an upper surface and a lower surface of the pick point portion. A pliable strap portion extends away from the pick point portion toward a tail portion including a terminal end. The pliable strap portion is designed to wrap around a musician's thumb, while the tail portion becomes engaged in the slot with the tail portion confined between the upper and lower surfaces of the pick point portion. A gusset can be included on an upper surface of the pick point portion to strengthen the inflexibility of the pick point portion. The tail portion of the strap can include a series of grooves while the slot includes a pawl designed to engage at least one of the series of grooves to secure the strap within the slot.

The present disclosure is directed to picks for stringed instruments, and particularly to picks designed to be attached to a musician's thumb for use on such instruments as banjos, dobros, mandolins, pedal steels, guitars, etc.
A commonly employed thumb pick is formed of a single continuous loop of metal or stiff plastic to engage the thumb having a projecting pick point intended to contact the strings of an instrument. Examples of such thumb picks are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,787,136 and 5,509,341 as well as in U.S. Design Pat. No. D603,891. A discussion of the shortcomings of such thumb picks appears in connection with FIG. 1 of my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,616. These picks are designed to maintain their stiffness throughout the life of the pick and consequently cannot be worn for a great length of time since they often exert great pressure in the area of the cuticle of the nail. Since the retention of this type of thumb pick on the thumb requires a constant compression, it must be of an inflexible material. Generally, the pick point is cantilevered from the bottom center of the thumb, although the pick point itself may have a variety of known shapes. This existing type of pick tends to be unidirectional and only stays in its proper location on the thumb when strings are stuck with a downward stroke of the thumb. Should the pick catch on a string or other object while the thumb is moving in an upward motion, the pick can become misaligned and can even come off the thumb entirely.
The thumb pick of my earlier patent is, by contrast, formed from a softer thin malleable planar sheet of material which is deformable out of the plane of the material. The material is soft enough and heat pliable enough to allow the thumb shape and the body temperature to dictate the shape of the pick. The thumb pick includes a string-engaging portion and an integral main body portion that includes three straps that are movable between the substantially planar dormant position and a bowed thumb-receiving position in which the center strap is displaced away from the outer two straps to define a thumb-receiving passageway. The string-engaging portion is positioned to extend transversely to the axis of the thumb and in a plane that is common to that axis. The softer malleable material is more comfortable to wear than the more conventional thumb picks. Advantageously, the pick design permits a musician to stroke the strings on the up-stroke or return stroke without the pick being displaced from the thumb, thereby increasing the number of times the pick can contact a string per stroke of the thumb. The malleable character of the pick material allows the pick to be quickly returned to a flat plane after being removed from the musician's thumb to allow the pick to be stored in a substantially flat condition in a holder, wallet, or pocket, or for use in a flat state as a conventional guitar pick to be held between the thumb and first finger.
Despite the comfort and flexibility provided by my earlier thumb pick, the soft character of the pick point portion was viewed by some string musician's as being undesirable, particularly by those who play instruments having heavier weight strings. Others have sometimes criticized the range of sizes required and the volume of material exposed on the end of the pick opposite the pick point, which sometimes can contact the musician's index finger while playing. There is therefore a need for a thumb pick that includes the comfortable thumb engaging characteristics of my earlier pick while having a more robust pick point that can be used successfully even by those who play instruments having heavier weight strings and avoiding the interference with the musician's index finger.


An asymmetrical IO method and system are described. In one embodiment, a host device includes shared resources for data synchronization of the host device and a client device. The shared resources include a shared phase interpolator. In an embodiment, data lines between the host and client are also used to transmit phase information from the client device to the host device, obviating the need for additional, dedicated lines or pins.

As computer and other digital systems become more complex and more capable, methods and hardware to enhance the transfer of data between system components or elements continually evolve. Data to be transferred include signals representing data, commands, or any other signals. System components or elements can include different functional hardware blocks on a single integrated circuit (IC), or on different ICs. The different ICs may or may not be on the same printed circuit board (PCB). System components typically include an input/output (IO) interface, or physical layer, specifically designed to receive data from other system components and to transmit data to other system components.
In many systems, some components are characterized as hosts and other components are characterized as clients. Host components generally include more capability or "intelligence" implemented, for example, as integrated circuit logic. An example of a host-client relationship is a memory controller (host)-memory device (client) relationship. It is often desirable for a client device, such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) for example, to include only a minimum amount of intelligence for functions such as managing IO. One reason for this is that it is expensive in terms of area and speed to implement logic on a DRAM device. Therefore, it is desirable for the host device to include as much intelligence as possible for managing IO interactions with a client such as a DRAM.
Existing IO interfaces and methods include "symmetrical IO" and "asymmetrical IO". In general, for symmetrical IO, a host and a client each include similar IO capability, typically in the form of physical layer circuitry devoted to IO functions. Symmetrical IO can be expensive for the reasons explained above. For example, including all of the required physical layer IO logic in a DRAM is expensive.
In general, for asymmetrical IO, a host and a client do not have similar IO capability. The host typically includes at least some circuitry to manage IO on behalf of the client so that the client can be a simpler device. However, typical current asymmetrical physical layer IO designs place excessive burden on host side, for example by including circuitry for handling client functions.
Regardless of the type of IO interface, transferred data must be synchronized between host and client for proper operation. Synchronization includes accounting for or compensating for several phenomena that potentially cause errors, including signal jitter and bit skew. The phenomena include differences between component clocks, and physical attributes of the data paths that create noise and affect the integrity of the transferred signal. Current asymmetrical IO designs can have circuitry in the host device for performing this synchronization on behalf of both the host and client. Some of the circuitry is redundant. For example, the redundant circuitry includes phase interpolators for each of the host and client that adjust the phase of a sampling clock or a data signal in response to phase detection information. An object of this phase adjustment is to maintain the active edge, or sampling edge, of the sampling clock close to the center of the data eye of the data to be sampled in order to prevent errors. Client-side phase information is transferred from the client to the host, and used by the host-side synchronization circuitry to perform phase adjustment for the client device.
Another disadvantage of current asymmetrical IO systems is that client-side phase information is inefficiently transferred from the client device to the host device. For example, in some systems, dedicated pins are added to carry phase information for each data bit, which adds expense and undesirably increases form factors of components in the system.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of portions of a prior art asymmetrical IO system 100, including a physical layer of a host device 102 and a physical layer of a client device 104. The host device 102 and the client device 104 each receive a system timing signal in a respective phase lock loop (PLL) (host PLL 116 or client PLL 106) to generate one or more local clock signals, including a sampling clock for sampling incoming data. The client device 104 receives data on multiple bidirectional data lines 112 and includes client phase detection circuitry 110 that determines whether the sampling clock is aligned close to the center of the data eye of the received data. The client phase detection circuitry outputs phase information that is transmitted to the host device 102 through physical signal carrier 114, which could be dedicated data lines.
The host device 102 includes host phase detection circuitry 118 that determines whether the local sampling clock is properly aligned with respect to data received by the host device 102 on multiple bidirectional data lines 112. The host device 102 also includes redundant circuitry for adjusting the phase of its local sampling clock, and for adjusting the phase of the data transmitted to the client device 104 in response to the client phase information transmitted on lines 114. In various prior systems, lines 114 represent dedicated, additional wires, circuit board traces, pins, etc. for each data bit transmitted on lines 112. For adjusting the phase of the host device local sampling clock, the host device 102 includes receive phase control logic 120, receive phase interpolator 122 and latch/flop 128. To adjust the phase of the data transmitted to the client device 104, the host device 102 includes transmit phase control logic 126, transmit phase interpolator 124, transmit phase control logic 126, and latch/flop 130.


A Data transmission device controlled by a processor which has a transmission control apparatus (14) which re-transmits transmission data which was previously set by a microcomputer (10) and which was unable to be transmitted in a first transmission attempt. The transmission control apparatus (14) has a transmit data word number comparing circuit (28) which determines whether a value of a set transmit data word number is within the limits prescribed by a communication standard. In the event of a failed transmission attempt, the microcomputer sets a transmit data word number greater than the number prescribed by the communication standard.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus which communicates digital data.
2. Description of the Related Art
The number of apparatus in which a plurality of electronic control units are built-in with microcomputers as their cores and the respective units are connected with a transmission line so as to compose a system, has increased with the advance of recent semiconductor technology for both industrial use and for private use.
It can be said that the most remarkable example of such apparatus is an electronically-controlled automobile. In an electronically-controlled automobile, such functions as engine control, steering control, change gear control, and braking control are performed by respectively independent electronic control units controlled by respective microcomputers. Regarding overall controls of a whole automobile, however, there is a case where it is necessary to transfer, between the other electronic control units concerned, respective control informations through a transmission line, as in the case of output power adjustment of an engine accompanying change gear control for lightening the so-called shift shock at the time of changing speed, for example.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a system of an apparatus in which such a plurality of electronic control units are built-in, each unit being connected.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 designates a transmission line for transmitting/receiving data, to which a plurality of electronic control units 2a, 2b . . . 2j are connected. In addition, this transmission line 1 is a line of one-bit-series, to be more concrete, a serial data transmission line of CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection) type, for example.
In the case where such a transmission system as shown in FIG. 1 is applied to an automobile, the J-1850 standard standardized by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.) is already generally used as a kind of standard for data transfer between each of the electronic control units 2a, 2b . . . . Accordingly, the following explanation is done in accordance with the J-1850 standard. However, the essence of the present invention is applicable not only to the J-1850 but also to the other communication standards, of course.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the transmission format of the J-1850 standard.
At the head field of the transmission block, start code 3 showing the start of the transmission block is positioned, and at each of the following fields, priority code 4 of one byte, transmission destination address 5 of one byte, transmission source address 6 of one byte are positioned successively, and then transmit data 7 of 0 byte through 7 byte and CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) code 8 of one byte for detecting data error of the block are positioned, and at the last field, end code 9 is positioned. And each communication node (each of the electronic control units 2a, 2b . . . 2j in FIG. 1 corresponds thereto) writes necessary data in each field of such a transmission block to deliver it to the transmission line 1, thereby communication is performed between each other.
By the way, in the system shown in the aforesaid FIG. 1, since one transmission line 1 is shared by all of the electronic control units 2a, 2b . . . 2j, in the case where a plurality of communication nodes, requiring transmitting at the same time, start transmitting at the same time, collision detection is carried out while the three bytes of the priority code 4, transmission destination address 5 and transmission source address 6 are delivered to the transmission line. According to one method, when a communication node, having delivered a high-priority transmission block, continues transmitting, competitive control is performed.
In the case where a communication standard such as the J-1850 standard is used, it is not practical to directly control the transmission line 1 in the intervals of primary control by the microcomputer of each of the electronic control units, since the load on the microcomputer becomes heavy. Therefore, a configuration, such that a transmission control apparatus independent from the host microcomputer is installed in each electronic control unit and the transmission control apparatus performs transmission line control such as data modulation and competition control, is widely adopted. When such a configuration is adopted, the host microcomputer only sets all kinds of parameters necessary for transmitting and data to be transmitted in the transmission control apparatus. Then the transmission control apparatus controls the transmission line 1 independently from the host microcomputer so as to perform transmitting. When receiving the transmission control apparatus controls the transmission line 1 independently, therefore the host microcomputer is only required to receive statuses such as receive data and results of transmitting/receiving. Thus, configuration can be made to have extremely little load to the host microcomputer.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an electronic control unit using such a configuration.
In FIG. 3, the region surrounded by a dashed line corresponds to each of the electronic control units 2a, 2b . . . 2j shown in FIG. 1. Reference numeral 10 designates a host microcomputer. This host microcomputer 10 is connected with an address/control bus 11 and a data bus 12, and outputs address and control signals to the address/control bus 11 as well as transmits/receives data between itself and an external control circuit. In addition, data transfer from this host microcomputer 10 to the transmission control apparatus 14 through the data bus 12 is performed by serial data transfer.
Reference numeral 13 designates an electronic control circuit conducting engine control or variable speed control, for example, and the circuit is connected with the aforesaid address/control bus 11 and the data bus 12. Numeral 14 designates a transmission control apparatus and the apparatus is connected with the address/control bus 11 and the data bus 12 in the same way.
In the case where a host microcomputer 10 of a certain electronic control unit transmits a message or information to another electronic control unit, it specifies each register and memory (refer to FIG. 4) of the transmission control apparatus 14 through the address/control bus 11 and sets necessary data via the data bus 12, thereby it activates the transmission control apparatus 14 to deliver data. After that, the host microcomputer 10 only confirms the transmission/reception status by reading the status of the transmission control apparatus 14 at any time via the data bus 12.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of such a transmission control apparatus 14 as aforementioned.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 15 designates a host computer interface circuit and the circuit is connected, as shown in FIG. 3, with the host microcomputer 10 through the address/control bus 11 and the data bus 12. To the host computer interface circuit 15, a reading control circuit 19, a reading multiplexer 20, writing control circuit 21 and writing temporary buffer 22 are connected.
The reading control circuit 19 is provided so as to read all kinds of data and information and read receive data from various kinds of registers to be described later by controlling switching of the reading multiplexer 20 according to the control signal given from the host microcomputer 10 through the address/control bus 11. To the reading multiplexer 20, some registers, such as a status register 161 and a receive data word number register 162, for example, among a plurality of registers constructing a register 16 or a receive data memory 18 and the like are connected. When the reading multiplexer 20 selects any of the registers or memories according to controlling by the reading control circuit 19 so as to connect with the host computer interface circuit 15, the host microcomputer 10 can read the contents of the register and memory through the data bus 12.
The writing control circuit 21 controls the writing temporary buffer 22 according to a control signal given through the address/control bus 11 from the host microcomputer 10. The writing temporary buffer 22 is provided so as to temporarily store all kinds of data and information sent from the host microcomputer 10 through the data bus 12, and writes them into various kinds of registers, to be described later, and a transmit data memory 17 after writing is synchronized with the operation inside the transmission control apparatus 14 according to control of the writing control circuit 21. To the writing temporary buffer 22, some registers such as a transmit data word number register 163, for example, and the like among a plurality of registers composing the register 16, and the transmit data memory 17 and the like are connected.
And to the writing control circuit 21, also a transmit data word counter 23 and a transmitting/receiving control circuit 26 are connected. In transmitting, the transmit data words is sent to the transmit data word counter 23 from the host microcomputer 10, and the value thereof is decremented as transmit data is stored in the transmit data memory 17. And this transmit data word number is also set in the transmit data word number register 163 in the register 16. Transmission start signal 27 is given to the transmitting/receiving control circuit 26 from the writing control circuit 21. This transmission start signal 27 is outputted in the case where the counting value of the aforesaid transmit data word number counter 23 is down-counted from the value set by the host microcomputer 10 to become "0", in other words, at the time when all of data to be transmitted is stored in the transmit data memory 17. Thereby the transmitting/receiving control circuit 26 is started to start the actual transmitting operation.
Into the transmit data memory 17, transmit data is written from the host microcomputer 10 as aforementioned. According to control from the transmitting/receiving control circuit 26, it is transmitted to the transmission line 1 from the transmitting circuit 24. And into the receive data memory 18, receive data is stored from the transmission line 1 through a receiving circuit 25 according to control from the transmitting/receiving control circuit 26.
The registers composing the register 16 are the status register 161 storing status of receive data or status of results of transmitting/receiving and the like, receive data word number register 162 storing word numbers of receive data, transmit data word number register 163 in which data word number to be transmitted is set from the host microcomputer 10 and the like.
Next, an explanation will be given of the operation of the transmission control apparatus 14 having the aforesaid configuration.
At first, the host microcomputer 10 controls the address/control bus 11 and the data bus 12 so as to read the status register 161 in the register 16 of the transmission control apparatus. And as a result, when it is judged that transmitting is possible, the host computer 10 sets each parameter for transmitting (transmit data word number and the like) in the register 16 and also writes transmit data in the transmit data memory 17. Then, when transmission start signal 27 is given to the transmitting/receiving control circuit 26, transmit data written in the transmit data memory 17 is transmitted to the transmission line 1 through the transmitting circuit 24.
The host microcomputer 10 reads the status register 161 in the register 16, and when it is judged that receiving is completed, it reads the receive data memory 18 to receive data.
The selection at the time of reading of all kinds of information and data from each register and memory inside the transmission control apparatus 14 is carried out in such a way that the reading control circuit 19 receives the content of the address/control bus 11 from the host computer interface circuit 15 and controls the reading multiplexer 20 so as to select content of a target register or memory and outputs it to the host computer interface circuit 15.
On the other hand, all kinds of information and data are written into registers and memories inside the transmission control apparatus 14 by the writing control circuit 21 after writing data outputted from the host microcomputer 10 is held temporarily in the writing temporary buffer 22, since writing is synchronized with the operation of the transmission control apparatus 14.
Controlling of the transmission line 1 is carried out by the transmitting/receiving control circuit 26. In the case where transmitting is performed to the circuit 26 itself from the transmission line 1, the circuit 26 makes the receiving circuit 25 to operate so as to store data in the receive data memory 18, and information of receive data word number, status at the time of receiving and the like are set in the register 16.
Transmitting is done in the following procedures. Since the transmit data word number is variable in this conventional example, the host microcomputer 10 at first sets it. That is, the writing control circuit 21 writes transmit data word number received from the host microcomputer 10 into the transmit data word number register 163 as well as writes it into the transmit data word number counter 23. After that, the host microcomputer 10 writes transmit data into the transmit data memory 17 successively, however, the writing control circuit 21 counts down the transmit data word number 23 one by one every time one word of transmit data is written in the transmit data memory 17. When this counting value becomes "0", writing of all transmit data into the transmit data memory 17 is completed, therefore, the writing control circuit 21 sends the transmit start signal 27 to the transmitting/receiving control circuit 26, and the transmitting/receiving control circuit 26 controls the transmitting circuit 24 so as to try transmitting.
In the case where transmitting is tried in such a way, a result of transmission failure or the like owing to collision with another transmission at the transmission line 1, is set in the status register 161 of the register 16 after finishing transmission trial. The host microcomputer 10 reads this content and performs proper processing. To be concrete, in case of transmission failure, transmit data word number is set in the register 16 again and all transmit data to be transmitted is written once more in the transmit data memory 17, thereby transmitting is tried again.
Since the conventional communication apparatus is so configured as aforementioned, when retransmitting in case of transmission failure, since the same processing should be done once more as that of the case where transmission is newly tried, the host microcomputer has a heavy load. Especially, frequent collisions owing to a large amount of transmit data amount on the transmission line results in a big problem.

Data transmission system wherein the setting of the transmit data word number indicates whether a new transmission or retransmission should be sent


A printing apparatus includes a conveying mechanism, a printing unit, a drying unit, and a control unit. The conveying mechanism conveys a sheet and the printing unit applies an ink onto the sheet conveyed by the conveying mechanism to perform print operation. The drying unit may dry the sheet on which an ink has been applied by the printing unit. The control unit controls the conveying mechanism, the printing unit, and the drying unit. The control unit controls the conveying mechanism to vary a sheet conveyance amount per unit time while print operation of one job is in progress. The control unit further controls the drying unit depending on variation in the sheet conveyance amount while the print operation of the one job is in progress.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus including a drying unit for drying a printed sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that a drying time is shortened by installing a drying unit dedicated to the apparatus in a printing apparatus of an inkjet system, and subjecting a sheet on which ink is applied (deposited) to forced drying. Japanese Patent Application Open-Laid No. 5-270100 discusses an apparatus that can obtain appropriate drying state by variably controlling heater temperature of the drying unit and sheet conveyance speed depending on an ink amount used for printing, or a duty per unit area.
In a printing apparatus, a conveyance control may be performed, in which a conveyance speed (a sheet conveyance amount per unit time) is varied, even when print execution in one print job is in progress. Then, a conveyance speed of a sheet which passes through the drying unit is also varied in synchronism therewith. If an amount of heat of the drying unit is constant per time, heating amount is varied from area to area of the sheet resulting from variations of passing speeds through the drying unit of the sheet, and thus there is a possibility that an uneven drying may occur. The uneven drying may be visually identified as a color unevenness of an image.


A center control unit (11) of a center unit (4) generates assessment information corresponding to the strictness of the usage conditions for a specified component based on operation data stored in an operation data accumulation unit (13) received by an in-vehicle terminal (2) and assessment regulations stored in an assessment regulation storage unit (14), and generates report information for displaying a report in a form allowing comparison of this generated assessment information to relative comparison assessment information stored in an assessment information storage unit (15). A transmitter-receiver (12) transmits the report information generated by the center control unit (11) to a user terminal (3).

There is a system of monitoring an in-vehicle component based on data acquired from a vehicle; wherein the system finds in advance mileage (replacement reference mileage) of the vehicle, which is a measure for component replacement time, compares this replacement reference mileage and actual mileage, and notifies the user that it is the component replacement time when the actual mileage reaches the replacement reference mileage.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-137079    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-346010


In order to propose a vehicle motion control apparatus providing a good operability for a driver and capable of reducing a pedal operation, motional state information acquiring means configured to acquire longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, and a vehicle speed generated in a vehicle; pedal operating amount acquiring means configured to acquire pedal operation information performed by the driver; and vehicle motion control command calculating means configured to calculate a longitudinal acceleration command value on the basis of information acquired therefrom and output a command value realizing the calculated longitudinal acceleration command value are provided, and the vehicle motion control command calculating means is configured to calculate the longitudinal acceleration command value on the basis of the acquired information so as to generate longitudinal acceleration which provides a longitudinal jerk of a value comparable to a longitudinal jerk on the basis of a pedal opening operation performed by the driver.

In the related art, as a vehicle motion control system configured to reduce an operational load of a driver, a system configured to perform deceleration instead of the driver when lateral acceleration generated in the vehicle is higher than a set value from curve information of a navigation system or the lateral acceleration at the time of turning is known (for example, see JP-A-2009-51487).
Since the curve information is acquired in the vehicle motion control system in this configuration, an apparatus configured to acquire a course shape such as image pickup means such as a global positioning system (GPS) or a camera is necessary, and hence the price is high.
As a system for controlling acceleration and deceleration without the necessity of such an apparatus, a method of creating acceleration and deceleration on the basis of lateral jerk generated by an operation by the driver is proposed (for example, JP-A-2008-285066, International Journal of Automotive Engineering Vol 39, No. 3, 2008).
With this method, acceleration and deceleration in the same manner as a skilled driver may be performed without setting a time change of deceleration for every curve. Accordingly, when driving through continuous curves, the number of braking operations of the driver may be reduced, so that the operational load for the driver may be reduced.
In view of reduction of step changing operations of an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal performed by the driver, as a method of generating deceleration by the operation of the accelerator pedal, a method of adding deceleration on the basis of a travelling state (in the town, windings in the suburbs) (for example, JP-A-9-272419) and a method of adding deceleration according to the position of the accelerator pedal (for example, JP-A-2000-233730) are proposed. In these methods, deceleration may be generated only with an operation of the accelerator pedal.

Vehicle motion control apparatus and vehicle motion control system