In an approach for locating parking, a computer identifies driving directions to a destination. The computer receives a navigation input from a user to locate parking associated with the destination. The computer calculates one or more navigation paths based on the destination, wherein the one or more navigation paths include one or more street segments that connect identical starting and ending points with at least one different street segment and overall values indicating priority based on one or more weight factors associated with the one or more street segments. The computer selects a first navigation path from the calculated one or more navigation paths utilizing an ordered ranking of the one or more navigation paths. The computer provides driving directions associated with the first navigation path. The computer determines whether the user locates parking while utilizing the first navigation path.

The present invention relates generally to the field of navigation systems, and more particularly to locating parking with respect to a destination.
Through technological advancements, the preferred manner in which individuals navigate to a destination has evolved. Initially individuals navigated to a destination by following routes by viewing a map (e.g., paper map or road atlas an individual interpreted to reach a destination), or by utilizing computer mapping programs (e.g., customized route to a destination that includes a tailored map with step by step printed instructions). However, with the development of global positioning systems (GPS) and portable navigation systems, individuals are able to receive electronic maps with turn-by-turn guidance enhanced with voice instructions that update and occur real time until reaching the destination. Navigation systems may be embedded or portable, and combine positioning capabilities (e.g., GPS) and navigation function in order to monitor and control the movement of a vehicle from one location to another. Navigation systems are capable of including maps for display, determining a vehicle's location via sensors, maps, or information from external sources, providing suggested driving directions to a user of a vehicle via text or speech, providing information on nearby vehicles, hazards or obstacles, providing information on traffic conditions, and suggesting alternative driving directions.
Navigation systems receive signals from satellites through a GPS antenna and identify the position and direction of the vehicle by combining the data from the satellites with information received from various onboard sensors (e.g., direction sensor, speed sensor, etc.). By accessing the map database, the navigation system displays the current position and direction of the vehicle on a visual output device (e.g., handheld, embedded console screen, etc.) by comparing the information in the GPS antenna and onboard sensors to the information in the map database. In order to reach a destination, a user initially enters data (e.g., address, point of interest, etc.) pertaining to the destination into the navigation system. Based on the current location, configurations and locations of nearby streets, connecting routes between streets, as well as attributes, such as one-way streets and intersections, are ascertained from the map database. After confirming the current location and the vicinity of the destination, the actual destination is located. The navigation system confirms and determines the route that connects those two locations and street connection status (e.g., intersections, left/right turn conditions, traffic conditions, street speeds, etc.). The navigation system may determine multiple possible routes from the current location to the destination but suggests an optimum route (e.g., fastest travel time, shortest distance, etc.). After the user confirms the route, the navigation system provides driving directions and displays the route. While driving directions continue, the navigation system also updates information on the display providing a real-time view of the map and the route on which the vehicle is driving.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Identifying a parking location with respect to a destination

International Business Machine Corporation


A shiftable clamping-type locking mechanism, includes two track-defining elements and a plurality of clamping members, e.g. rollers or balls, arranged between the tracks of the elements and so spring-biased as to seek a clamped position. The clamping members are shiftable by a control unit from the clamped position into a release position in which the clamping members are liberated from the tracks so that the two elements can be freely moved relative to one another. A coupling unit positively connects the two elements to one another in order to prevent an undesired slip between the elements.

The present invention relates to a shiftable clamping-type locking mechanism, and in particular to a locking mechanism used in gearboxes for adjusting a seat position of a car seat.
In general, clamping-type locking mechanism of this type are used to secure the position between two elements. When releasing a locking mechanism, both elements can be moved in directions that have been previously locked. The locking mechanism is provided with tracks between which clamping members are positioned and so spring-loaded against these tracks as to seek a clamped position. The tracks may, for example, be formed on opposing outer cylindrical surface areas of both elements. It is also conceivable to design the tracks along confronting sides of longitudinally displaceable elements. Locking mechanisms of this type may be installed, for example, in gearboxes in which a shaft should be securely fixed in both directions of rotation. Such gearboxes are used, for example in seat adjustments of motor vehicles or in mechanisms for raising and lowering windows in motor vehicles.
International patent publication WO 96/20352 discloses a clamping-type locking mechanism for adjusting the seat position of a seat. The locking mechanism includes two elements nested within its other, with the outer element forming a cylindrical track about its inner surface area, and with the inner element being provided with several circumferentially spaced ramps extending about the outer surface area in opposition to the cylindrical track and inclined in opposite directions. Each ramp forms with the cylindrical track a wedge-shaped clamping gap in which a clamping roller is positioned under spring tension. As the imaginary peaks of the wedge-shaped clamping gap either face one another or, as in this case, face away from one another, the clamping rollers positioned under spring tension in the clamping gap prevent a rotation of the inner element relative to the outer element in both directions of rotation. When the clamping rollers are released and thus in cleared position, only those clamping rollers are actually freed which are functionally relevant for this direction of rotation. The clamping rollers are arranged in pockets of a cage at clearance in circumferential directions, whereby the cage can be slightly pivoted relative to the inner element. This pivot path is utilized for releasing the clamping rollers from their pertaining clamping gaps. A torque acts on the inner element and is effected by a force impacting on the seat. In the clamping situation, these types of locking mechanisms retain the seat at a set level.
These types of locking mechanisms are however subject not only to static torque in their clamped position but also to oscillating, dynamic loads with changing torque. In such a changing load, the clamping force, which is transmitted from the inner element via the clamped rollers into the outer element, is initially reduced in the conventional locking mechanism, until the changing load reaches a value at least approximating zero. Although in this stage, the clamping rollers are still resiliently received in their clamping gap by means of the provided springs; However, relative movements between the inner element and the outer element are possible because of the reduced clamping action as a result of the changing load. Thus, an undesired slip may be caused. In case of a seat adjustment, such relative movements result in an unintended change of the seat level.

Shiftable clamping-type locking mechanism


A response to a Domain Name System (DNS) query can be protected with authentication information to be used by a host that originated the query. In one example, a DNS server is not among servers that can be authenticated by the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC). The DNS server generates a public-private key pair and uses the private key for signing DNS resolutions. The corresponding public key can be distributed to hosts that will communicate with the DNS server. In various implementations, the public key is distributed by the DNS server and/or routers or as part of a neighbor discovery interaction. In one example, the public key is distributed in certificate path advertisements of the IPv6 Secure Neighbor Discovery Protocol (SEND) protocol.

Identification for nodes on the Internet can take the form of a domain name, such as "cisco.com". Alternatively, nodes can be identified using an Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, such as "18.104.22.168" (IPv4) or 2001:db8:1756:5:d90:e6bf:fe35:46cf′ (IPv6). The IP address is the form of identification that is actually used for enabling communication through standard Internet equipment. Thus, when a user or a computer program specifies an identifier in the form of a domain name, the identifier needs to be translated into an IP address before communication takes place. This translation is typically done with the assistance of a domain name system (DNS) server, also known as a name server. A DNS lookup request (also known as a DNS query, or DNS resolution request) is sent to the DNS server. The lookup request indicates the domain name that needs to be translated. The DNS server responds to the lookup request with a DNS lookup reply (also known as a DNS reply or DNS resolution) that includes responsive information for the lookup request. The responsive information can include the corresponding IP address for that domain name, or information on how to obtain that address from a different DNS server, or a "not found" notice, or an error message, or other information.
Although the domain name format requires this extra step of translation, it is widely used for several reasons. First, it is generally easier for users to remember a domain name than to remember the corresponding IP address. Second, an owner of the domain may wish to move the domain from one computer site to another. When such moves occur, the IP address of the domain generally changes but the domain name stays the same. Thus, customers and other users do not need to be apprised of the new IP address; it is sufficient for users to continue using the familiar domain name.
The correspondence between IP addresses and domain names is stored in DNS servers, which provide DNS lookup services. Rather than using a single point of reference, the Internet uses a variety of authoritative DNS servers as the defining sources of information regarding translation between domain names and IP addresses. Each authoritative DNS server is assigned responsibility for a set of domain names, and can sub-assign some responsibilities to other authoritative DNS servers.
In addition to the authoritative DNS servers, additional computers can also provide translation information between domain names and IP addresses. Such computers can operate a local (non-authoritative) DNS server to support their local environments, such as a corporate/enterprise environment, an Internet service provider's (ISP) customer base, or other groups of subscribers or users.
A local DNS server can obtain translation information from the authoritative servers, either directly or through other local DNS servers. The local DNS server's users or subscribers can query the local DNS server when a translation is needed. The deployment of local DNS servers allows for faster lookups and mitigates the load that would otherwise be placed on the authoritative DNS servers.
Communication between DNS servers and their users needs to be secure, to avoid cache poisoning, DNS redirects, spoofing, man-in-the-middle attacks, and other compromises of DNS replies that are sent to the users. Thus, ISPs and other corporate environments or enterprises may deploy their own local DNS servers that are directly accessible to their users. Such measures may partly mitigate the risk of interference by a malicious party. Nonetheless, it would be beneficial to have techniques for protecting this communication in a manner that supports detection of compromises.

Authentication of cache DNS server responses


A vibration isolator suitable for isolating and/or dampening vibrations generated in a vibrating machinery component such as a motor or pump so as to minimise the unwanted effects (such as audible secondary sounds) of those vibrations. The isolator may be installed in a home appliance such as a laundry washing machine and may be a separate, unitary component installed between a motor/pump and the structure of the laundry machine or may be installed between a mounting bracket of the motor/pump and the laundry machine. Alternatively, the isolator may be integrally formed with a pump/motor mounting bracket, on upper and/or lower surfaces of a mounting flange. The isolator is preferably formed from a substantially incompressible material and in one preferred embodiment has a washer-like form with a central opening at least partially surrounded by a tubular ridge with a plurality of radial projections extending outwardly and/or inwardly from outer/inner surface(s) of the tubular ridge.

Electrical appliances often include motors or pumps that, during operation, transfer vibrational motion to other connected components of the appliance. For example, laundry clothes washing machines usually incorporate a pump for removing soil- or detergent-containing water from a laundry load within an outer bowl (also known as a washtub). The removed water may be recirculated back into the outer bowl or may be expelled to a drain. In the case of a laundry washing machine of the "top-loading" or "vertical-axis" variety the pump may be attached beneath the outer bowl, directly to the base of the outer bowl via a mounting arrangement. During operation of the pump, vibrations generated by the rotation of the rotor and impeller of the pump are transmitted through the mounting arrangement to the outer bowl and may also be transmitted to the cabinet or "wrapper" of the machine via the suspension system and other attachment points. Such vibrations of the outer bowl and/or the cabinet, which have a much larger surface area than the pump or are resonantly excitable parts, can result in unwanted audible noise.
It is known to provide a damping arrangement between the pump and the outer bowl to reduce the amplitude of the transmitted vibrations. Such known damping arrangements utilise compressible rubber or elastomeric washers or spacers surrounding fasteners connecting the pump (or a mounting bracket holding the pump) to the base of the outer bowl. Whilst such washers/spacers reduce transmitted vibrations to the body of the appliance, in some cases their effectiveness only reaches an acceptable level when the volume of compressible material, and therefore the axial spacing between the pump/bracket and the base of the outer bowl, is increased to a sufficiently large value. In many modern home appliances, such as laundry clothes washing machines, space within the cabinet is at a premium and often it is desirable to minimise the distance between the base of the outer bowl and the pump/bracket.
It is also known to utilise dampers comprising a solid, for example a metal such as brass, "crush" tube surrounded by a compressible rubber or elastomeric material disk to dampen vibrations between the pump and outer bowl. The crush tube has a central hole through which the fastener passes and the rubber/elastomeric disk has a thickness comparable to the axial length of the crush tube with an annular circumferential groove in an outer cylindrical face. This type of damper must be mounted to a hole in a flange of a pump bracket by being pushed through a slot in the edge of the flange. It will be appreciated that this type of damper necessarily has a relatively large outer diameter, as well as a significant axial length, and so takes up a relatively large spatial volume on and around the mounting bracket. Such a requirement places restrictions on the design and layout of the pump bracket.
It would therefore be desirable to utilise an axially shorter vibration damping arrangement that still achieves acceptable vibration isolation results.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a vibration isolator, a vibration-isolating mounting arrangement, a mounting bracket or an electrical appliance which will go at least some way towards overcoming the above disadvantages, or which will at least provide the public or industry with a useful choice.


It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of controlling the automatic transmission of a vehicle, in which the vehicle can be smoothly started on a low frictional coefficient road by requiring the concurrent operation of the brake pedal and the acceleration pedal. An up-shift operation will occur when both the brake and acceleration pedals are operated when the vehicle speed is less than a predetermined value.

There are conventionally known automatic transmissions in which an automatic speed change occurs based on the travelling speed of the vehicle. In any of these transmissions, however, a first speed stage is established when the vehicle starts to move. With an increase in vehicle speed, an up-shift operation occurs in sequence to a second and a third speed stage.
During the starting of the vehicle in motion on a low .mu. road (.mu. is a friction coefficient) such as a snowy road, a frozen road or a muddy road, if the acceleration pedal is depressed in order to start the vehicle in the same manner as at the starting on a normal road, the driving power becomes too large when compared with the frictional force between the tires and the road surface, so that the tires may slip in some cases.
In this case, the vehicle may be started in motion smoothly by slightly depressing the acceleration pedal with the brake pedal being remained depressed at the starting of the vehicle and gradually reducing the force for depressing the brake pedal in this state to gradually transmit the driving power to the tire. In conventional automatic transmissions, however, the first speed stage is established when the vehicle is started so that driving power varies largely depending upon the degree of depression of the acceleration pedal. Therefore, delicate operation of the brake pedal and the acceleration pedal are required in order to smoothly start the vehicle.

Method of controlling the automatic transmission of a vehicle


An airbag to be inflated with gas from a gas generator includes a front panel disposed at a position adjacent to an occupant and a rear panel disposed at a position opposite to the occupant. The rear panel has an opening for the gas generator at the center thereof. An inner panel is provided for dividing an interior of the airbag into a central first chamber and a second chamber around the first chamber. The inner panel has an opening disposed substantially coaxially with the opening of the rear panel. The inner panel has a communication opening at a rear end thereof for communicating the first chamber and the second chamber. When the airbag becomes an inflated state, the communication opening is situated on at extension of a direction that gas is ejected from the gas generator.

The present invention relates to an airbag mounted in a high-speed vehicle such as a car for protecting a human body in case of emergency such as a collision, and an airbag system including the airbag.
Various airbag systems including a driver-seat airbag system have been used for protecting an occupant in case of emergency such as a car collision. The driver-seat airbag system includes an airbag formed by stitching peripheries of an occupant-side front panel and an opposing rear panel. An inflator opening for receiving an end of an inflator is provided at a center of the rear panel. A periphery of the opening is fixed to a retainer with pins or rivets. The rear panel has a vent hole for absorbing an impact of a driver striking against the airbag by releasing air in the airbag.
Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 01-247242 has disclosed an airbag in which an inner panel disposed between an inflator opening in a rear panel and a front panel for dividing an interior of the airbag into a central first chamber and a second chamber. The inner panel has a substantially circular shape, and an outer rim thereof is connected to a middle portion between a center and a rim of the front panel. The inner panel has an inflator opening at a center thereof. A rim of the opening is fixed to a retainer together with the rear panel. The inner panel has a communication opening communicating between the first and second chambers. When the inflator is activated, the first chamber is inflated first, and then the second chamber is inflated. Gas flows from he first chamber into the second chamber through the communication opening, so that the second chamber is inflated completely after the first chamber is inflated completely.
An object of the present invention is to provide an airbag having an interior divided into a first chamber and a second chamber, in which the second chamber is inflated quickly.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.


Aspects of the invention provide a bypass structure for a memory device for reducing unknown test values, and a related method. In one embodiment, a bypass structure for a memory device is disclosed. The bypass structure includes: a logic gate configured to receive a test signal and a clock signal; and an output latch configured to receive an output of the logic gate, an output of the memory device, and a bypass data signal, wherein the output latch is configured to hold the bypass data signal and bypass the output of the memory device in response to asserting the test signal, such that unknown data from the output of the memory device is bypassed.

For automatic logic test pattern generation in manufacturing tests, the inputs and outputs of random access memories (RAMs) are exercised at speed to ensure that there are no delay faults on the logic paths into and out of the RAMs. During the tests, the contents of the RAMs on a chip are generally assumed to be unknown. Otherwise, the test generator would require extra processor time and memory to compute and remember RAM contents from one test sequence to the next, and the test sequences could not be reordered or applied individually at the tester. Typically for logic tests, the RAMs are put in a bypass mode so known, predictable data is launched from the RAM outputs.
However, to exercise the logic paths into and out of the RAMs, the bypass mode cannot be used. The RAMs must be in a functional mode so the tests can write to and read from the memories. The initial, unknown data, frequently called "X states," that is outputted from the RAMs cannot be compressed into a verifiable signature, since the data is unknown.

Bypass structure for a memory device and method to reduce unknown test values

International Business Machines Corporation


A water-proof type oxygen sensor including a sensor element having inner and outer electrodes at inner and outer surfaces, respectively; a metallic cap for housing the sensor element; a gas-tight sealing member provided in the cap for isolating the exhaust gases from the air; communicating openings provided in the cap for communicating a space inside the cap with the air; and a communicating member arranged around the outer periphery of the communicating openings and having gas permeability and water-repellent property. The inner and outer electrodes are adapted to contact with air and exhaust gases. The communicating member is cylindrical and is fixed to the metallic cap through a metallic fixing member having a coefficient of thermal expansion almost equal to that of the metallic cap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to so-called water-proof type oxygen sensors each comprising a sensor element having inner and outer electrodes at inner and outer surfaces thereof, respectively, which inner and outer electrodes are to contact with surrounding air and exhaust gases, respectively; a metallic cap for housing the sensor element; a gas-tight sealing member arranged inside the cap for isolating the exhaust gases from the surrounding air, and a communicating member having a water-repelling property for communicating the surrounding air with the air inside the gas-tight sealing member.
2. Related Art Statement
Water-proof type oxygen sensors conventionally have been known as oxygen concentration detectors for exhaust gases from automobiles.
Since these oxygen sensors use surrounding air as a reference oxygen atmosphere, they are constructed to isolate the air as the reference oxygen atmosphere from the gases to be measured. In order to isolate air from the gases to be measured, in the case; of an oxygen sensor 10 as shown in FIG. 4, a gas-tight sealing member, for example, talc 4 is charged between a planar sensor element 2 placed in a metallic housing 1 and a metallic cap 3.
In this manner, an inner electrode is isolated from the gases to be measured, and an air introduction path is provided for introducing the surrounding air into the reference oxygen electrode.
As shown in FIG. 4, the air introduction path is constituted by communicating openings 5 provided in the metallic cap 3, and a column-like communicating member 6 arranged inside the metallic cap 3 and having gas permeability and water-repelling property, while the metallic cap 3 is caulked from the externally peripheral side to intimately adhere the inner surface of the metallic cap 3 with the peripheral surface of the communicating member 6. By this construction, air can be fed to the reference oxygen electrode, while the water-proof structure is maintained.
However, when the water-proof type oxygen sensor having such a construction is repeatedly heated at high temperatures and cooled during use for a long time period, a gap is formed between the metallic cap 3 and the communicating member 6 (generally made of a resinous material) due to difference in thermal expansion between them.


A one-piece bi-directional cable tie for bundling articles having a tail at one end, a locking head at the other end and an elongate strap body therebetween may feature one or more fixed locking teeth opposite a deflectable locking pawl so as to provide ratcheting locking engagement with the two major surfaces of its strap body. The fixed teeth may provide symmetrical performance characteristics or may provide selectable performance characteristics depending on the direction of strap body insertion through the locking head. The locking head may facilitate wedging the strap body against the deflectable pawl. The deflectable pawl may include a chevron-shaped upper surface so as to provide an undercut surface for improved engagement with the locking teeth of the strap body.

The use of cable ties to bundle a plurality of wires or similar articles has long been known. Basic cable tie construction includes an elongate cable tie strap having a tail at one end and a head at the other end. The head includes a central passage or aperture therethrough for accommodating a tail in an insertable fashion. The head supports a locking device adjacent the head aperture to securely lock the cable tie body within the aperture of the head to provide securement of the cable tie about the bundle of wires. In one type of cable tie construction, the locking device is a flexibly supported integrally formed pawl having plastic teeth which engage corresponding teeth on a cable tie body to provide locking engagement therebetween. As is typical of most cable ties, the tail of the cable tie is inserted into the head aperture uniquely in one direction. However, the art has also seen the use of bi-directional, or symmetrically-formed, cable ties which permit the cable tie tail to be inserted through the aperture in the head in either direction.
One such bi-directional cable tie is shown and described in co-pending commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/689,466, filed Aug. 9, 1996, entitled "A Self-Locking Cable Tie Strap With Symmetrical Structure", issued on Mar. 23,1999, as U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,367 which is herein incorporated by reference for all purposes. The cable tie of such construction may be particularly used with an automatic cable tie installing device where a plurality of cable ties held together in a reel. A cable tie from the reel may be fed from a dispenser to a cable tie installing gun for installation about a plurality of wires. The symmetrical construction of the cable tie permits the cable tie to be easily dispensed and aligned within the installation gun. As may be appreciated, in order to accommodate insertion of the cable tie tail from either direction, the pawl or locking device of the symmetrical cable tie must be sufficiently flexible to permit deflection in either direction. Such flexibility assures that the cable tie tail may be easily inserted through the aperture in the head in either direction.
While such flexible construction permits easy insertion, it has been found that in certain circumstances such cable ties may not exhibit sufficiently high resistance to withdrawal forces as may be required in certain applications. Additionally, the art has uniformly provided bi-directional cable ties having symmetrical withdrawal-resistance characteristics while ignoring circumstances where it may be desirable to provide a bi-directional cable tie exhibiting discretely selectable, or non-symmetrical, withdrawal-resistance characteristics depending upon which direction the cable tie strap is inserted through the head.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a cable tie having a self-locking feature in a symmetrical structure which exhibits ease of insertion of the cable tie strap into the aperture in either direction and yet provides suitably high resistance to withdrawal forces in order to maintain a self-locking configuration. Additionally, it is desirable to provide a self-locking feature in an asymmetrical structure which offers discretely-selectable resistance to withdrawal forces according to the direction of strap insertion.


According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array connected to word lines and bit lines, and formed by arranging a plurality of memory cells in a matrix, each memory cell storing one of n values (n is a natural number of not less than 2), and a control circuit configured to write data in the memory cells by controlling potentials of the word lines and the bit lines in accordance with input data. The control circuit performs a write verify operation a plurality of number of times by changing a voltage level, stores data of the voltage level at which verify pass occurs, and determines a write voltage based on the stored data of the voltage level.

A NAND flash memory is known as a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device.
In the NAND flash memory, data are simultaneously erased for each block as a set of memory cells. When erasing a block of this NAND flash memory, the threshold value moves to a deep negative value because of over-erase. If the threshold voltage of a memory cell thus deepens, the write time prolongs when data is written in this block next time. Therefore, the overall threshold value is raised by performing a simultaneous write-back operation for each block after the block is erased. Recently, however, the time of this write-back operation increases the erase time.
Also, in the NAND flash memory, a program verify operation of verifying the threshold voltage of a memory cell is performed after a write operation. It is desirable to shorten the write time of this write operation as well.


A heating unit comprising an electrically conductive substrate. A solid fuel layer comprising a metal reducing agent, a metal containing oxidizing agent and a binder is coated on a surface of the substrate, the solid fuel layer having a solid fuel surface spaced from the substrate. A first electrode coupled to the substrate. A second electrode coupled to the solid fuel surface. A power supply is configured to be selectively coupled to the first and second electrodes to provide a voltage between the metallic substrate and the solid fuel surface. The voltage acts to propagate an exothermic metal oxidation-reduction reaction without the use of an igniter.

Self-contained heating units using a solid fuel capable of undergoing an exothermic metal oxidation-reduction reaction are known. Such devices use a metal reducing agent and a metal containing oxidizing agent typically in combination with an additive such as a binder coated on the surface of an electively conductive substrate. Various embodiments of self-contained heating units utilizing such solid fuel layers are described in Hale, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0234914, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. The solid fuel capable of undergoing exothermic metal oxidation-reduction reaction has proven useful, in particular as part of a drug delivery device, because of the ability of the solid fuel to heat the substrate to several hundred degrees Celsius very rapidly, i.e., on the order of seconds and fractions of seconds. This rapid heating to a high temperature is useful for producing high purity aerosols of drugs coated on or in heat exchange relationship with the heat units. However, heat units using solid fuels capable of undergoing exothermic metal oxidation-reduction reaction have required actuation by one of a variety of ignition systems. Such ignition systems include, but are not limited to, resistive heating igniters, resistive heating with an arc, optical, percussive igniters. While each of these various starters have advantages and drawbacks with respect to other starter options, it would be advantageous if no starter or igniter was required to initiate the metal oxidation-reduction reaction Eliminating the igniter would minimize the components and manufacturing processing steps required to build heating units and dramatically reduce the cost while simultaneously increasing the safety and reliability of the heating units.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.

Heat units using a solid fuel capable of undergoing an exothermic metal oxidation-reduction reaction propagated without an igniter


A planetary gear train of an automatic transmission for a vehicle may include an input shaft receiving torque of an engine, an output shaft outputting changed torque of the engine, a first planetary gear set, a second planetary gear set, a third planetary gear set, a first rotation shaft selectively connectable to the input shaft, a second rotation shaft, a third rotation shaft selectively connectable to at least one of the input shaft and a transmission housing, a fourth rotation shaft selectively connectable to the first rotation shaft, a fifth rotation shaft directly connected to the transmission housing, a sixth rotation shaft selectively connectable to the fourth rotation shaft, and directly connected to the output shaft, and a seventh rotation shaft selectively connectable to the first rotation shaft.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transmission for a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a planetary gear train of an automatic transmission for a vehicle that improves power delivery performance and fuel economy by achieving eight forward speed stages with a minimum number of constituent elements being used.
Description of Related Art
Recent increases in oil prices are triggering competition among auto-makers in enhancing fuel consumption of a vehicle.
In this sense, research is being conducted on engines in terms of reducing weight and improving fuel efficiency by down-sizing, and research is also being conducted to ensure both drivability and competitiveness for maximizing fuel efficiency by implementing an automatic transmission with multiple speed stages.
However, in the case of the automatic transmission, the number of internal components increases as the number of gear shift stages is increased, which may deteriorate installability, production cost, weight and/or power flow efficiency.
Accordingly, development of a planetary gear train which may achieve maximum efficiency with a small number of components is important in order to increase fuel economy enhancement effect through the multiple-speeds.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Planetary gear train of automatic transmission for vehicle


A talking book and audio player apparatus includes a book having a back face, a mounting platform attached to the back face, a cassette tape mounted within the mounting platform, the book, mounting platform and tape together forming a cartridge, and a player base assembly for removably receiving the mounting platform and for playing the tape, so that the user can play the tape while following printed contents of the book, and such that any of several book and tape cartridges can be inserted into the base assembly to provide variety and selection of reading material. The player base assembly preferably includes a housing having a top wall portion and a recessed area in the top wall portion for receiving the mounting platform so that the book is positioned for use, a mechanism for removably connecting the mounting platform to the top wall portion, and a cassette tape player within the housing having elements positioned to engage and play the tape when the mounting platform is inserted into the recessed area. The mounting platform preferably includes a shell member attached to the back face and having an indentation at its margin in which the cassette tape is retained. The player base assembly preferably includes sliding shafts extending into the housing for operating control buttons of the tape player.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of instructional kits combining books with corresponding sound recordings for teaching reading skills, and more specifically to a combined book and cassette tape cartridge and a player base assembly for receiving the book and tape cartridge, the cartridge including a mounting platform attached to the book back cover and a cassette tape relating to the contents of the book secured within an edge of the mounting platform, and the player base assembly including a housing having a top recessed area for receiving the mounting platform so that the book is positioned for use, a mechanism for removably engaging the mounting platform to anchor the cartridge to the base assembly, a cassette tape player secured within the housing having its spindles and capstan extending into the recessed area to receive the cassette tape when the platform is inserted into the recessed area and the playing head oriented to engage the tape when the player is operated, the tape player speaker being mounted inside the housing adjacent sound release portals in the housing wall, and sliding shafts extending into the housing for operating tape player controls, so that the user can play the tape while following the book text from page to page, and such that any of several such book and tape cartridges can be inserted into the base assembly to provide variety and selection in reading material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been written texts sold in combination with sound recordings for teaching reading skills and foreign language pronunciation. In many such combination kits the sound recording, typically a cassette tape or phonograph record, and text are provided together but are separable. One of the two might be lost, leaving the remaining book or sound recording portion essentially useless. If several such combination kits are purchased, the books and sound recordings can easily become mixed up with each other. In some kits the sound recording and playing device are both permanently attached to or integrated into the particular book. As a result, another playing device has to be purchased each time a different book is desired, forcing a wasteful and expensive duplication of equipment.
Paige, U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,684, issued on Feb. 15, 1972, teaches a talking book including a housing having the appearance of a book, and containing an audio tape player and replaceable text pages. A variety of different text pages and corresponding tapes can be inserted. A problem with Paige is that a conventional book cannot be readily adapted for use. Special insertable pages must be prepared. A child does not gain familiarity with conventional books, but only with the special housing unit. Another problem is that the tapes and text pages can be mixed up or lost, as mentioned above. Another problem is that the pages and tape must be inserted separately, so that changing the reading material is inconvenient.
Kallmann, U.S. Pat. No. 2,936,342, issued on May 10, 1960, discloses a talking book and tape player apparatus where the book has a magnetic sound track on each page. The player is placed against the page over the sound track and a playing head within the apparatus scans along the track. A problem with Kallmann is that the sound track on the page is necessarily so short that only a few seconds of sound can be reproduced. This would rarely be sufficient to reproduce all the words on a full printed page. Another problem is that the apparatus must be positioned on each and every page, making it laborious to use.
Chatlien, U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,852, issued on Feb. 26, 1980, reveals a method of teaching reading. The student follows the words in a book while the same words are being audibly reproduced, and writes words or statements as directed by audible instructions. A problem with Chatlien is that the text and magnetic tape can become separated, lost or mixed up with other such texts or tapes. The added step of writing is of questionable value and does nothing to solve this problem.
Sendor, U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,355, issued on Jan. 11, 1977, teaches a book binder containing sheets of reading material and a thick panel having recesses for retaining related cassette tapes. Additional recesses are optionally provided for projector slides. Schwartz, U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,141, issued on Mar. 31, 1970, discloses a book binder much like that of Sendor. Schwartz has a thick cover with tape receiving recesses, tape spool locking projections, and ribbons for popping the tapes out of the recesses. DeGroot, U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,729, issued on Jun. 8, 1971, discloses a book binder containing a central audio storage case with text pages clipped on either side of the storage case. One or two tape receiving recesses are provided in the faces of the storage case. A problem with Sendor, Schwartz and DeGroot is that the tapes can become separated from the binder or case and lost, or mixed up with other cassette tapes.
Brefka, U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,881, issued on Jan. 13, 1987, discloses a talking book in the form of a notebook in which text pages can be removably inserted. Mounted inside the cover of the notebook is a tape player and infrared detection device for sensing the turning of pages. The turning of a page activates a switch and logic circuitry causing the tape player to recite information relating to the written content of the open page. A problem with Brefka is that a conventional book cannot be readily adapted for use with the device. Children using Brefka would not gain hands-on familiarity with an ordinary book. Also, a tape corresponding to the particular text must be separately inserted. This not only adds a step when changing the text, but permits separation and loss of text or tape. The logic circuitry also makes Brefka relatively complex and prone to failure.
DeSmet, U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,974, issued on Dec. 5, 1989, reveals an interactive talking book and audio player assembly. The book includes a read-only memory chip, or ROM, attached at its margin and containing audio information relating to the contents of the book in binary form. The ROM has elements which fit into a player, which may include a microprocessor and which audibly reproduces the contents of the ROM. A problem with DeSmet is that it is complex and thus more failure prone. Another problem is the vocal sound quality of a ROM and microprocessor are typically poor compared with magnetic tape or other more conventional sound storage media.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a talking book apparatus which permanently joins a written text with a corresponding sound recording so that they cannot become separated and mixed up with other texts and recordings.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus in which the text takes the form of a conventional book so that children using the apparatus gain familiarity and comfort with, and an interest in books.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which gives the high quality sound reproduction of magnetic tape, and of sufficient duration to recite all words in the text.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which can be easily used and inexpensively manufactured.


A coil assembly includes a coil winding and a multilayer printed circuit board. The coil winding has multiple loops that are arranged in different layers of the printed circuit board and form a main magnetic field with a main measuring direction perpendicular to a main plane of the printed circuit board. The loops arranged in different layers are electrically connected together via at least one via. The printed circuit board has at least four vias or a whole-number multiple of four vias that form an equal number of reverse current paths and forward current paths between the loops of the coil winding. Each pair of vias with the same current path direction is arranged point-symmetrically relative to a common mirror point such that magnetic loops that are formed on printed circuit board secondary planes arranged perpendicularly to the main plane have opposite directions and compensate for one another.

The disclosure is based on a coil assembly and a measuring assembly having such a coil assembly.
Various measuring assemblies for determining an inductance of one or more sensor coils of a measuring coil assembly of an eddy current sensor by means of a resonant circuit are known from the prior art. It is possible to conclude easily on the measured angle of rotation on the basis of the inductances of individual coils. Generally, the determination of an inductance is performed by measuring and integrating a resonant frequency of an LC oscillator circuit, wherein the resonant frequency is dependent on the inductance. The measurement of the frequency of the LC oscillator can be implemented with very little complexity involved in an ASIC or microcontroller. Correspondingly, the detected resonant frequency can also be influenced by an externally induced voltage, with the result that the resonant frequency is no longer only dependent on the LC resonance condition, but also on the frequency of the external interference signal inducing the voltage. By splitting the sensor coils into two parts and inverting the winding sense, this coupling-in can be reduced. By virtue of this measure, however, the inductance is generally also reduced, but this inductance critically determines the coil Q factor and therefore the frequency stability.
A real coil assembly is never completely planar and has a plurality of regions in which external fields can induce voltages. Thus, in the case of single-layered or double-layered coils, significant sensitivities with respect to magnetic interference fields may be present if there is an interference field within the coil assembly which has not been compensated for and which is generally caused by the structure of the vias in a multilayered printed circuit board. The vias are used to make contact between the coil and an evaluation circuit. Considerable coupling-in of signals by electrical fields can occur if the coil assembly does not have the same impedance at both connections and if a grounded area is arranged behind the coil assembly.
Attempts are also being made to reduce the sensitivity with respect to homogeneous external fields in the main measurement direction. These attempts are based on the idea that the eddy current is a local effect of the near field, whereas the interference field can be considered to be a homogeneous far field. DE 10 2008 012 922 A1 discloses, for example, an inductive planar angle sensor having a stator, which comprises at least one excitation element and at least one reception element, a rotor and an evaluation circuit. The excitation element is in the form of a coil having a first outer winding and an oppositely directed second winding arranged therein with a spacing. Thus, the excitation element has two coils, which generate opposite electromagnetic fields when a voltage is applied. Depending on the requirement for the field strength, a plurality of parallel windings can be arranged in different layers of a printed circuit board, wherein the ends of the windings are connected electrically to one another by means of a via.

Coil assembly and corresponding measuring assembly


A sorbent canister utilized when performing a dialysis treatment during hemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD) is provided. The sorbent canister includes inlet and outlet ports that include a threaded interface for connection to inlet and outlet tubes for circulation of dialysate through the sorbent canister. Upon disconnection from a dialysis machine, a pressure relief cap can be threaded onto the threaded interface to seal the fluid in the sorbent canister while allowing for off-gases to be expelled when a pressure within the sorbent canister exceeds a threshold pressure, thereby preventing a rupture in the canister body. In one embodiment, the pressure relief cap includes a deformable insert with a hole formed therein that is closed in an uncompressed state and opened in a compressed state. In another embodiment, the pressure relief cap includes a diaphragm that mates with a feature of the inlet or outlet port.

Patients with kidney failure or partial kidney failure typically undergo kidney dialysis, often at a hemodialysis (HD) treatment center. When healthy, kidneys maintain the body's internal equilibrium of water and minerals (e.g., sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, and sulfate). Patients with kidney failure tend to accumulate substantial excess water and toxins (e.g., urea, ammonia) in their blood and tissues and may experience serious mineral imbalances. The kidneys also function as part of the endocrine system to produce the hormone erythropoietin, as well as other hormones. Hemodialysis is an imperfect treatment to replace kidney function, in part, because it does not address the endocrine functions of the kidney.
In hemodialysis, blood is withdrawn from the patient through an intake needle (or catheter) which draws blood from an artery in a specific access site (e.g., arm, thigh, subclavian region, etc.). The arterial blood is then pumped through extracorporeal tubing typically via a peristaltic pump, and then through a special filter termed a "dialyzer." The dialyzer is designed to remove toxins such as urea, nitrogen, potassium, and excess water from the blood. As blood enters the dialyzer, it distributes into thousands of small-diameter, straw-like, generally-parallel fibers that run the length of the dialyzer. The walls of each fiber are formed from a semi-permeable membrane material with numerous small pores. Dialysate, a solution of chemicals and water, flows through the dialyzer in the spaces outside this network of fibers and generally in a direction opposite (i.e., countercurrent with) the flow of the blood. As the dialysate flows through the dialyzer, it bathes and surrounds the fibers. These pores in fiber membranes are large enough to pass water and water-borne impurities—including minerals, urea and other small molecules—but are not large enough to pass red blood cells. Fresh dialysate thus accumulates excess impurities passing by diffusion across the membranes, and also collects excess water through an ultrafiltration (UF) process due to a hydrostatic pressure difference across the membrane (i.e., due to a higher hydrostatic pressure in the blood as compared to the dialysate).
During this process, the volume of the relatively-large cells and larger proteins in the blood remains within the fibers to be recirculated back to the body. Used dialysate exits the dialyzer with excess fluids and toxins via an output tube, thus cleansing the blood and red cell volume flowing through the dialyzer. The cleansed, dialyzed blood then flows out of the dialyzer via tubing and a needle (or catheter) back into the patient (e.g., into an adjacent vein at the same access site). Sometimes, a heparin drip or pump is provided along the extracorporeal blood flow loop to prevent red cell clotting during hemodialysis.
Conventional dialysis systems are provided with a volume of dialysate that is passed through the dialyzer and the used dialysate (e.g., effluent) is then directed to a drain bag, collection reservoir, or into a plumbing system (e.g., sink or toilet) of the treatment center. It will be appreciated that a large volume of dialysate (e.g., 400-600 L/treatment) can pass through the dialyzer during treatment. However, some dialysis systems can implement a dialysate regeneration system where the used dialysate is pumped through a canister filter, which can be referred to as a sorbent canister or a sorbent column, to cleanse the dialysate via adsorption of the toxins/waste, ion exchange, or catalytic conversion such that the filtered dialysate can be mixed with additional electrolytes and be re-circulated through the dialyzer. Such dialysate regeneration systems can significantly reduce the amount of dialysate that is required for treatment.
The sorbent canister is a replaceable component that must be changed periodically as waste or toxins build up in the filter media. The sorbent canisters typically have an inlet port and an outlet port that connect to tubes of the dialysis system. Fluid is likely to remain in the sorbent canister after it is disconnected from the dialysis system. Furthermore, the filter media and the fluid can continue to react and generate gases after being disconnected. If the inlet and outlet ports are left open so that such gases can escape the sorbent canister, then the fluid could also leak out of the sorbent canister causing issues with containment of the biohazard waste. Thus, the inlet and outlet ports are typically sealed when the tubes are disconnected from the canisters. However, the off-gases that continue to accumulate within the sorbent canister can build up pressure within the sorbent canister to the point that the sorbent canister can rupture.

Pressure relief mechanism for sorbent canisters


Negative differential resistance devices are implemented to facilitate current flow under different operating conditions. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, an NDR device is arranged for selective passage of current through relatively high tunneling efficiency regions and relatively low tunneling efficiency regions. In some applications, a gate is used to accumulate carriers to facilitate the passage of current that is predominantly one of tunneling current and generation current, respectively, by controlling the passage of current through a relatively high tunneling efficiency region and a relatively low tunneling efficiency region. In some implementations, the NDR device is arranged to mitigate leakage in a storage device using a two-terminal connection.

With the rapid growth of the semiconductor industry, high-density semiconductor memory devices have already reached the gigabit scale, led by the progressive development of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) technology. Meanwhile, the increasing speed gap between the logic and DRAM technologies has led to complex memory hierarchies and the need for high speed on-chip DRAMS.
One common DRAM memory cell involves a single access transistor and a capacitor in a one-transistor, one-capacitor (1T1C) arrangement, where information is stored in the form of charge on the capacitor. Although the DRAM cell has generally exhibited a smaller cell size relative to other cells, ranging between 4F2 and 8F2, where F is the minimum feature size, it requires periodic refreshing because of the leakage of charge on the capacitor. As technology scales, the transistor leakage current keeps increasing, which only exacerbates the data retention problem. In this regard, the threshold voltage of the access transistor is generally kept at a high level, since reducing the threshold voltage results in an exponential increase in subthreshold leakage and, therefore, much smaller data retention time. With these challenges, the continued scaling of DRAM technology to much higher densities and higher performances presents significant technological challenges.
Static RAM (SRAM) does not require refreshing and is generally faster than DRAM (e.g., approaching a nanosecond or shorter for access time, relative to tens of nanoseconds for access to DRAM cells). However, SRAM cells have generally been significantly more complex than DRAM cells, and in some applications requiring either four n-channel MOSFETs and two p-channel MOSFETs, or four n-channel MOSFETs and two polysilicon load resistors. These complex SRAM arrangements have generally resulted in significantly larger cell size (typically greater than 100F2), relative to DRAM cell sizes.
Negative differential resistance (NDR) devices have been proposed for compact static memory applications, where NDR devices are added to a 1T1C DRAM cell. Generally, if the current of the NDR element can compensate for the leakage of the memory cell, the information stored in the capacitor will not be lost and therefore a static high-density memory cell can be achieved. However, most SRAM applications involving NDR devices have suffered from a variety of undesirable operational characteristics. In addition, the manufacture of such devices has often required processes that are not readily implemented with common CMOS-type fabrication, require additional steps and/or cost.
These and other characteristics have been challenging to the implementation of negative differential resistance devices in memory and various other applications.

Negative differential resistance devices and approaches therefor

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


An apparatus and method for forming a digital image are disclosed. The apparatus includes a plurality of pixel sensors and a controller. Each sensor includes a photodiode, a floating diffusion node that can be selectively connected to said photodiode or a reset voltage, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) connected to the floating diffusion node, the ADC converting a voltage on the floating diffusion node to a digital value. Each pixel sensor also includes an output circuit that connects the ADC to a bus. The apparatus also includes a controller that causes the ADCs to operate in parallel to convert the voltages on the floating diffusion nodes to the digital values in a time that is less than the time needed for the floating diffusion node to acquire ten electron equivalents of noise. The optional apparatus includes circuitry that allows correlated double sampling to be performed in each sensor.

CMOS image sensors based on an active pixel design have gained wide acceptance in camera applications. In such sensors each pixel in the final image is generated by a pixel sensor that includes a photoreceptor that accumulates charge during an exposure. The accumulated charge is converted to a voltage by an output amplifier that is typically constructed from a source follower transistor that receives the charge at its gate and drives a bit line that is connected to the readout circuitry in the imaging array. The signal on the bit line is then digitized using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that is connected to the bit line.
In cameras that utilize global shutters, the image is projected on an array of pixel sensors after all of the photodiodes in the pixel sensors have been reset. All of the photodiodes accumulate charge in an amount that depends on the light intensity received by that photodiode. At the end of the exposure, the charge accumulated by each photodiode is transferred to a floating diffusion node in the pixel sensor, and the photodiode is isolated from the floating diffusion node, thereby ending the exposure. The charge remains on the floating diffusion node until the pixel sensor in question is readout. During the storage of charge on the floating diffusion node, the node accumulates additional electrons from noise sources in the array of pixels and the surrounding processing circuitry. The contribution of such "noise electrons" to the final image sensor intensity value depends on the amount of time the charge remains on the floating diffusion node. Compensation for this noise source remains a challenge in the search for designs that reduce the overall noise in CMOS imagers.


A method is described for collapsing a plurality of detected changes to data in a database into a reduced set of changes. The method includes detecting a plurality of changes to the database; determining that one or more changes in the plurality of changes are superfluous to demonstrating the current state of data in the database to an external system; determining, in response to determining that one or more changes in the plurality of changes are superfluous, a reduced set of changes that demonstrates the current state of data in the database based on the plurality of changes, wherein a number of changes in the plurality of changes is greater than a number of changes in the reduced set of changes; and determining a set of messages to generate based on the reduced set of changes, wherein the set of messages demonstrate the current state of data.

A database may store records representing multiple different types of objects. For example, a customer relationship management (CRM) database of a CRM system may store records representing event objects, task objects, account objects, contact objects, etc. Services may change data within the database and these changes may include modifying, creating, or deleting records. For example, when a user creates a meeting through a CRM service of the CRM system, a record corresponding to an event object is created in the corresponding CRM database. To create this record, the CRM service sends a request to the CRM database to cause the creation of the record.
Records in a database may be used by external systems for various functions. For example, an external system may generate metrics at least partially based on records within a CRM database. To facilitate the generation of metrics based on records within the CRM database, a transaction observer of the CRM system may monitor all changes to the CRM database and generate a message for each of these changes. The messages may thereafter be made available, via an enterprise messaging platform and a streamer, to the external system such that external system can update their metrics based on a current state of data in the CRM database. Since the transaction observer of the CRM system is not collocated with the external system, each message must be transported over a network. As there may be thousands or millions of changes to the CRM database each day and thus an equally large number of messages representing these changes, the bandwidth occupied by messages reflecting changes to the CRM database may be very large and burdensome. Further, the external system may update the metrics based on each individual message. After each update, the metrics may be made available and eventually transported to consumers, including the CRM system. Thus, the processing power devoted by the external system to messages reflecting changes to the CRM database and bandwidth devoted to transporting the updated metrics may be equally large and burdensome.
Although the description above was presented in relation to CRM systems, similar problems are encountered by all databases that demonstrate a current state of data to external systems using messages that reflect changes to the databases.

Collapsing multiple changes in a database for generating a reduced number of messages for an external system


A method and a system for injection of a solution of a compound into a gas at elevated temperature. The method includes the steps of injecting the solution into an injection channel being provided into at least a portion of an outer channel and being surrounded by and spaced apart from the outer channel, passing the gas along space between inner wall of the outer channel and outer wall of the injection channel and along inner space of the injection channel, evaporating the solution in and on inner wall of the injection channel, and decomposing the compound in and on the inner wall of the injection channel and in the gas. The solution can be aqueous solution comprising urea or ammonia, the gas is an exhaust gas from combustion, and the injection channel is a cylindrical channel concentrically installed in the outer channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to injection of a solution into a hot gas.
The invention is specifically directed to injection of an aqueous solution of urea into an exhaust gas from an engine for example from a diesel engine installed in a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Processes for catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides in an exhaust gas are known in the art. One is disclosed in DE 4203807, where a urea solution is injected and an evaporator is installed just downstream of the injection. The evaporator is preferably covered by a hydrolysis catalyst to quantitatively decompose the urea and avoid deposit on the downstream reduction catalyst.
The problem of deposition of urea is also dealt with in Japanese patent JP 8206459. Here the deposition of urea is prevented by mixing a urea solution with water upstream of an injection nozzle. Signals from engine control are used to control the mixing ratio, so when a small amount of urea is required during low load of engine, more water is used in order to prevent blocking with urea in the nozzle.
Also JP 2002306929 considers solidification of injected urea into an exhaust gas. The nozzle is housed in a cover, and then downstream of this the hot exhaust gas is introduced, and then a catalyst is needed for decomposition of urea.
Another approach to solving the problem of urea deposit is disclosed in JP 2003278530, where the nozzle is surrounded by a thick wall, and the nozzle tip is surrounded by a cover with a deflecting bottom, after which the urea solution is introduced to the exhaust gas.
To avoid fouling by urea in a selective catalytic reduction unit in exhaust gas in vehicles, U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,770 discloses a process, where the urea is decomposed in a separate chamber before the solution is sprayed into the exhaust gas.
A process for injection of a urea solution into exhaust gas is disclosed in EP 1 052 009. In this process a side stream is conducted through a porous body acting as an evaporator or through a catalytic reactor, where hydrolysis of urea takes place before the side stream is combined with the main stream. This process requires control of the side stream flow and an evaporating and/or hydrolysing device to create a mixture of ammonia and exhaust gas upstream of a selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides.
In WO 2005/103 459 exhaust gas is added a reducing agent by injection into a smooth shell surrounded by spacers pressing against the enlarged shell when hot.
To obtain turbulence in an exhaust gas for improved mixing between an injected reducing agent and the gas, an elaborate device is installed as disclosed in WO 03/036 054.
A common disadvantage of known art is that additional equipment is required in form of evaporator, hydrolysis reactor, water tanks, thick housing, exhaust gas injection device, mixers or separate chamber and some of them even result in risk of cooling down the urea solution, which should have been thermally decomposed. The additional equipment occupies space in an exhaust gas pipe, which is a problem especially in vehicles, where only limited space is available.
The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for urea solution injection with subsequent evaporation and thermal decomposition of urea without incomplete evaporation or deposition of incomplete decomposed urea and without requirement of additional space in an exhaust gas channel.

Method and system for injection of a solution into a gas stream


A simulation data augmentation method, a simulation data augmentation device and a simulation data augmentation terminal are provided according to embodiments of the present application. The method includes: acquiring a point cloud based on a plurality of frames, wherein the point cloud includes a plurality of obstacles labeled with real labeling data; dividing the point cloud into a plurality of preset regions, wherein each of the preset regions includes at least one obstacle; and adjusting the obstacle based on the real labeling data of the obstacle in the preset regions to obtain simulation data.

In traffic simulation, the position of an obstacle having labeling data is extracted to serve as an arrangement position. Since the amount of the labeling data is limited, the amount of obtained simulation data is limited, and a requirement for diversity of the simulation data cannot be met. At present, the simulation data are typically augmented by zooming or rotating a frame image, so as to obtain more simulation data. However, contents modified in this way of simulation data augmentation are not many, and thus it is still impossible to generate a lot of simulation data.

Traffic simulation method, device and storage medium

Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.


A day and night weapon sight includes a mounting base, a rod-shaped light guide fixed to the mounting base, and a self-luminescent capsule fixed to said mounting base vertically adjacent the light guide. Preferably, the light guide is formed of a rod-shaped fluorescently dyed transparent plastics material and the self-luminescent capsule includes a radioactive luminescent source (e.g., tritium).

Projectile weapons, especially personal firearms, such as rifles, shotguns and pistols, are typically aimed at targets using some form of sighting device. In this regard, the sighting device is typically fixed to the gun in alignment with the sight line of the gun barrel. In such a manner, the gun's barrel may be brought to bear on a visually acquired target so that a high likelihood exists that the target will be hit when the gun is discharged.
In copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/038,065 filed on Mar. 11, 1998 (the entire content of which is expressly incorporated hereinto by reference), there are disclosed gun sights which include one or more rod-shaped light guides. In preferred embodiments, the gun sights of the copending '065 patent application include one or more light guides that are formed from a suitable optically clear plastics material and dyed or colored with a fluorescent pigment to enhance their visibility.
While the gun sights disclosed in the copending '065 patent application are entirely satisfactory for daylight gun sightings, their use at night is limited due to the minimal amount of ambient light that is usually available.
Broadly, the present invention is embodied in combination day and night weapon sighting devices which necessarily include at least one rod-shaped light guide and a visible self-luminescent capsule closely vertically adjacent thereto.


A 3D system-level packaging method includes providing a packaging substrate, forming a glue layer on the substrate, and attaching a first chip layer at an opposite side of a functional surface of the first chip layer on the packaging substrate through the glue layer. The method also includes forming a first sealant layer on the packaging substrate at a same side attached with the first chip layer and exposing bonding pads of the first chip layer. The method also includes forming first vias in the first sealant layer, forming first vertical metal wiring in the first vias, and forming a first horizontal wiring layer on the sealant layer interconnecting the first chip layer and the first vertical metal wiring. Further, the method includes forming a plurality of package layers on the first sealant layer, and each of the plurality of package layers includes a chip layer, a sealant layer covering the chip layer, and vertical metal wiring and a horizontal wiring layer interconnecting adjacent package layers.

Wafer Level Packaging (WLP) is a technique for packaging and testing an entire wafer and then cutting the tested wafer into individual finished chips such that the finished chips after packaging are the same sizes as the dies. The WLP technology completely revolutionized traditional packaging technologies such as Ceramic Leadless Chip Carrier and Organic Leadless Chip Carrier. This technique meets the growing market demands for lighter, smaller, thinner, and lower-cost microelectronic products. Through the wafer-level chip-size packaging technique, the chip size may achieve a high-degree of miniaturization and, consequently, the chip cost is significantly reduced with the decrease of the chip size and the increase of the wafer size. The wafer-level chip-size packaging technique may enable a true integration of integrated circuit (IC) design, wafer fabrication, packaging and testing, and substrate manufacturing at the wafer level, representing one of current research focuses in the packaging technology and leading the future development trend.
Fan-out wafer level packaging is one type of wafer-level packaging technologies. For example, Chinese patent application 200910031885.0 disclosed one wafer-level fan-out chip packaging method, the process steps including: covering the circular carrier substrate surface with a stripping film and a thin film dielectric layer I sequentially, and forming photolithography pattern openings I on the thin film dielectric layer I; forming metal electrodes connecting the substrate and re-wiring metal wires on the photolithography pattern openings I and its surface; covering the surfaces of metal electrodes connecting the substrate, re-wiring metal wires, and thin film dielectric layer I with thin-film dielectric layer II, and forming photolithography pattern openings II on the thin film dielectric layer II; constructing metal electrodes connecting chips on the photolithography pattern openings II; flipping the chips onto the metal electrodes and performing plastic encapsulation and curing to form a packaging structure with a plastic sealant layer; separating the circular carrier substrate and the striping film from the packaging structure with the plastic sealant layer to form a plastic-encapsulated wafer; planting and reflowing balls to form solder balls or bumps; cutting the plastic-encapsulated wafer into individual finished fan-out chip structures.
However, the final products made by the above packaging method may only support a single chip function. To achieve complete system functions, peripheral circuits including capacitors, inductors or resistors may need to be added at the outside of the final products. Further, the above method may be unable to be applied to manufacturing of multi-layer packaging structures with complex connections. Further, when such packaging method is used, the system-level packaging integration degree may be still undesired.
The disclosed methods and systems are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.

Three-dimensional system-level packaging methods and structures

NANTONG FUJITSU MICROELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


In a communications system, a sending system and a receiving system have multiple data buffers. In response to an inquiry from the sending system, the receiving system transmits information which indicates the size and number of data buffers available in the receiving system. The sending system then begins transmitting data frames, which are placed into the buffers of the receiving system. When the receiving system removes all of the data from a buffer, therefore freeing it to accept additional data, it sends a signal to the sending system indicating this fact. The sending system counts such signals, and ensures that the number of transmitted data frames does not exceed the number of frames which have been removed from the receiver's buffers by more than the number of buffers which the receiver has.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is related to serial communication techniques for use between computer systems.
2. Background Art
Communication of data between computer systems over serial data links is quite common. Numerous protocols and standard data exchange formats have been developed. Data may be communicated synchronously or asynchronously, with synchronous communication protocols generally having higher data transmission rates.
Synchronous communication systems send data in discrete blocks, also referred to as frames or packets. Data frames typically include, in addition to the data itself, indicators for the beginning and end of the block, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and other control information. Since the communication is synchronous, the sender and receiver are required to use clocks having the same time base. This is generally accomplished by having the receiver regenerate the clock from the received data.
Such frame-based synchronous communication systems can encounter problems with pacing of the data. Received data is usually placed into buffers, from which it is extracted by the receiver. If, for some reason, the receiver is unable to remove data from the buffers as fast as data is being transmitted over the communications link, data overrun will eventually occur. In this situation, data is either lost or some recovery protocol must determine what data is missing and require that it be retransmitted. This situation is most likely to occur if the receiving system contains multiple input/output subsystems, or is otherwise heavily loaded with tasks other than the data exchange under consideration. Although the receiving system can easily keep up with a single I/O subsystem, the presence of multiple subsystems can cause the overall receiving system to fall behind some particular I/O channel.
Presently, systems are typically designed so that the receiving system will always have sufficient capacity to handle all of its I/O subsystems without the possibility of data overrun. Since all I/O channels are seldom operating simultaneously at full capacity, the receiving system has excess capacity most of the time. This overdesign requirement causes systems to be more expensive than they otherwise need to be. In addition, such systems have a limited capability for expansion, since the total I/O bandwidth of all channels must be less than that which can be handled by the system.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a communications system and method which prevents the possibility of data overruns regardless of the response time of the receiving system. It would be further desirable if such system would allow data to be transmitted over the link at maximum capacity when the receiving system is able to handle such data rates.

System and method for data communications

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for providing a display to a flight crew of an aircraft includes providing a horizontal navigation display that includes data regarding the movement of the aircraft in a horizontal direction and an aircraft icon indicating a position of the aircraft in the horizontal direction. The method further includes providing a vertical navigation display that includes data regarding the movement of the aircraft in a vertical direction and an aircraft icon indicating a position of the aircraft in the vertical direction. The horizontal and vertical navigation displays are disposed adjacent to one another on a single display device. The method further includes receiving a first input to the display device indicating a selection of the horizontal navigation display aircraft icon, and, in response to the selection of the horizontal navigation display aircraft icon, engaging a horizontal navigation control feature of an autopilot system of the aircraft.

Modern aircraft display systems are capable of displaying a considerable amount of information such as aircraft position, attitude, navigation, and terrain information. Most such displays additionally allow a flight plan to be displayed from different views, such as a perspective view or primary flight display, a vertical situation display, and/or a lateral situation display, which may be displayed individually or simultaneously. When displayed simultaneously, the display is often referred to as an interactive navigation display (INAV). The vertical situation display and the lateral situation display are two-dimensional views of the aircraft flight plan, and may include, for example, an aircraft symbol, waypoint symbols, line segments that interconnect the waypoint symbols, and/or range rings. These views may also include various map features including, for example, weather information, terrain information, political boundaries, and navigation aids.
The vertical situation display and lateral situation display may also provide a user interface that allows the pilot or co-pilot of the aircraft to monitor and/or change the flight plan and/or path. For example, the pilot or co-pilot may maneuver a cursor to select a waypoint symbol on one of these views, resulting in the creation of a pop-up menu. The pilot or co-pilot can then interact with various menus to view the details of, or modify, an existing waypoint. Further, the pilot or co-pilot is able to utilize the user interface to create additional waypoints. For example, the pilot or co-pilot might interact with a selectable menu on the second image to provide the information necessary (e.g., latitude, longitude, and altitude) to set the waypoint. A new waypoint symbol would then appear in the appropriate location on the second image. Alternatively, the pilot or co-pilot might maneuver the cursor to the desired location of the vertical situation display or the lateral situation display and provide an input (e.g., click a button) resulting in the generation of a pop-up menu. The pilot or co-pilot may then interact with various pop-up menus to create the new waypoint.
While the vertical situation display and the lateral situation display include functionalities that allow the pilot to change the flight plan, the pilot must still use a separate mode control panel (MCP) or guidance panel (GP) to change the autothrottle (A/T) and autopilot (A/P) functions of the autopilot flight director system (AFDS). Thus, in order to change the course of an aircraft, a pilot is often required to use the vertical and/or lateral situation display to program a flight path change, followed by a separate input on the MCP or GP to make a corresponding command change to the A/T and/or A/P system. Thus, the pilot is often forced to divert his/her attention by having to look at and make inputs at multiple input sources along the flight control panel.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved display systems and methods for providing displays that overcome the deficiencies in the prior art. It is further desirable to provide system integrations that will reduce the pilot dependency on multiple avionic systems and provide a more intuitive graphical manner of performing and controlling the various autopilot and autothrottle modes. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present disclosure will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the inventive subject matter and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the inventive subject matter.

Display systems and methods for providing displays having an integrated autopilot functionality


The objects are to provide a method for producing a durable organic photoelectric conversion device by a coating process or to produce an organic photoelectric conversion device superior in photoelectric conversion characteristics to the conventional devices. In the production method for an organic photoelectric conversion device including a substrate, a pair of electrodes which are formed on the substrate and at least one of which is transparent, and an active layer formed between the pair of electrodes, the active layer is formed by coating; and the active layer contains a pigment.

A conventional solar cell, one of the use of an organic photoelectric conversion device, has been developed and practically used which device is made of polycrystal silicon. The production of the device requires high purity silicon and a high-temperature process. Considering the energy required for production, the contribution to energy saving technology of solar cell has been questionable. Besides outdoor electric generation use, the conventional production method still has a problem in fabrication of the device on a plastic substrate required for portable solar cells.
Another usage of an organic photoelectric conversion device as an optical sensor is represented by an image sensor incorporated in a facsimile or a photocopier. Such an optical sensor has been put into practice in an image reader with a linear sensor, serving as a scanner, made of silicon crystal. However, there has not hitherto been a two-dimensional scanner developed for practical use, which is large in area and requires no scanning.
In order to solve the above problems, efforts have been made to develop a solar cell which can be produced with less energy and which can be formed by a simple coating method with organic material which method can enable formation of a layer large in area.
For example, it has been proposed that organic material that has undergone dye sensitizing is used for the production of a wet solar cell. However, since the wet solar cell uses an electrolytic solution in the structure of the cell and may cause solution leak and iodine dissipation in the solution, such a cell has not been put into practice yet.
Another solar cell formed of organic material is exemplified by an organic thin layer solar cell entire of which is solid.
A solar cell (an organic solar cell) formed of an organic semiconductor may have various structures such as a dye sensitizing type, a bulkhetero junction type, a hetero pn junction type, and a Shottky type, for example (see Patent reference 1, and Non-Patent references 1 and 2).
A hetero junction type is a formation fabricated by depositing a layer made of an electron donor and a layer made of an electron acceptor, and uses charge transport caused by photoinduction at the interface of the layers. A reported example of the solar cell was formed of copper phthalocyanine and a perylene derivative respectively for an electron donor and an electron acceptor and attained a conversion efficiency of 1% in Non-Patent reference 3. Alternatively, a condensed aromatic hydrocarbon, such as pentacene and tetracene, can be proposed for an electron donor, and a fullerene compound such as C60 is proposed as an electron acceptor.
A bulkhetero junction type fabricates an active layer by mixing an electron donor and an electron acceptor at an appropriate ratio, and is therefore different from a hetero junction type that has an active layer in a two-layer structure. Junctions of the electron donor and the electron acceptor are uniformly spread in the bulk of the mixture active layer, so that solar light can be efficiently utilized. A device with a bulkhetero junction can be produced by co-depositing an electron donor and an electron acceptor by vacuum deposition to form an active layer or by coating, such as spin coating or printing, with the mixture solution of both electron donor and acceptor. An active layer has been reported which has been fabricated by vacuum deposition using copper phthalocyanine and C60 (Non-Patent reference 4). A wet coating method typically uses a mixture of conjugated polymer of polythiophene and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methylester (abbreviated to PCBM) which is a soluble derivative of fullerene (Non-Patent reference 5).
Reported production methods of the above solar cell of a bulkhetero junction type fabricate a layer by coating with a mixture of a polythiophene derivative or a poly phenylene vinylene derivative and a fullerene (C60) derivative (see Patent reference 2 and Non-Patent reference 6). The reports mentioned that the mixture layer of a solar cell thus produced has conjugated polymer and a fullerene compound that are separated in phase from each other.
It has been reported that a solar cell formed of a benzoporphyrin compound takes the form of a device with a Schottky junction (Non-Patent reference 7) or takes the form of a device with a hetero junction in which the electron acceptor layer has been formed of a perylene derivative (Non-Patent Reference 8 and Patent Reference 3). Both of the above devices however have low conversion efficiency and therefore large problems remain to be unsolved for practical use.
In the meanwhile, an organic pigment as represented by phthalocyanine, benzoporphyrin, quinacridone, and pyrrolopyrrole, is known to the public because the pigment can serve as high crystalline pigment material and has high durability under irradiation with light.    [Patent reference 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. HEI 8-500701    [Patent reference 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. HEI 6-179802    [Patent reference 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 2003-304014    [Non-Patent reference 1] "State-of-the-art organic thin layer solar cell", November, 2005, CMC Publishing Co., Ltd.    [Non-Patent reference 2] "dye sensitization solar cell—latest technology and market", July, 2004, TORAY RESEARCH CENTER. Inc.    [Non-Patent reference 3] C. W. Tang, "Appl. Phys. Lett.", vol. 48. pp. 183-185, 1986    [Non-Patent reference 4] S. Uchida et al., "Appl. Phys. Lett", vol. 84, pp. 4218-4220, 2004    [Non-Patent reference 5] S. E. Shaneen et al., "Appl. Phys. Lett", vol. 78, pp. 841-843, 2001    [Non-Patent reference 6] "Material Research Society Bulletin" (sic), vol. 30, No. 1, 33, 2005    [Non-Patent reference 7] K. Yamashita et al., "Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn". Vol. 60, pp. 803-805, 1987    [Non-Patent reference 8] D. Wohrle et al., "J. Mater. Chem.", vol. 5, pp. 1819-1829, 1995

Method for producing organic photoelectric conversion device and organic photoelectric conversion device


The invention provides a device for improving the positioning accuracy of a linear motor. A stator 20 is designed to have two kinds of magnets with different surface magnetism arranged alternately and at uniform intervals along the linear moving direction. A moving member 30 is disposed movably in the linear direction while maintaining a uniform distance from the stator. A detector head 50 formed integrally with the moving member 30 detects the magnetic flux of the stator 20 and sends the data to a control unit 60. The fixed laser length measuring machine 100 irradiates a laser beam LB to a target 110 attached to the moving member, and using the reflected light, measures the distance between the laser length measuring machine and the target highly accurately. The position of the stator 20 used as the magnet scale and the highly accurate position data measured by the laser length measuring machine 100 are compared so as to compute the correction data corresponding to the position of the stator, and the computed value is stored in the storage unit 70 to be utilized for the positioning of the motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a position detecting device of a linear motor, which enables the linear motor to carry out position detection and position control alone without a linear scale provided in parallel arrangement for controlling the linear motor, by utilizing the magnet arrangement constituting the linear motor itself as the linear scale for positioning.
2. Description of the Related Art
The linear motor according to the prior art either utilizes a separately provided linear scale arranged in parallel with the linear motor, or comprises a stator constituting the linear motor having two kinds of magnets with different surface magnetism arranged alternately and at uniform intervals along a linear moving direction, and a coil disposed movably in the linear direction while maintaining a uniform distance from the surface of the magnets constituting the stator, wherein the induced voltage occurring between the magnet and coil is detected, and thereby, the position of a moving member with respect to the stator is detected by computing the displacement of induced voltage (refer for example to Japanese Patent No. 3396216 (patent document 1) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-281783 (patent document 2).
According to the prior art where a linear motor and a linear scale are used together, it was necessary to provide a mounting means for precisely positioning the linear scale to the linear motor, and to provide a means to block water and dust from entering. Moreover, the assembling of the above means had to be performed with high accuracy, which required high costs even equivalent to the cost for building the linear motor itself.
According to patent document 1 which incorporates the function of a linear scale into the linear motor, the magnets arranged at uniform intervals and constituting the stator are used as a scale, so that if the magnets or the intervals contained errors, such errors were transferred completely as scale errors and deteriorated the scale accuracy.
In practice, it is impossible to form magnets without size errors or to arrange the magnets at uniform intervals without error. So the magnet arrangement inevitably contained some error, limiting the accuracy of the scale.

Position detecting device of linear motor