An information collection system includes a server apparatus, a plurality of edge apparatuses, and a collection rules storage unit. The edge apparatus includes a first information generation unit that generates first information and a second information generation unit that generates second information. The collection rules storage unit stores collection rules so as to be associated with the edge apparatus and the first information that the server apparatus acquires from the edge apparatus. The server apparatus includes a first information acquisition unit that acquires the first information from the edge apparatus, a second information acquisition unit that acquires the second information from the edge apparatus, and a collection rules acquisition unit that acquires collection rules from the collection rules storage unit.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to an information collection system, a server apparatus, an edge apparatus, a control method, and a program.
Related Art
There is an information collection system that collects information from a sensor, a portable terminal, or the like through a network. As an example of such an information collection system, there is a system that monitors anomalies of equipment or the like using an edge apparatus
Patent Documents 1-3 disclose techniques regarding the information collection system. The network measurement control system disclosed in Patent Document 1 monitors network traffic using an apparatus called a meter. In this system, an apparatus called a control server collects data regarding network traffic from the meter. The meter controls, for each control server, a transmission interval at which data is transmitted to the control server and the data type.
Patent Document 2 discloses a remote monitoring system for monitoring devices. In this system, each device internally performs an anomaly determination, and transmits an anomaly identification code to an air conditioning controller when there is an anomaly. Each air conditioning controller receives the anomaly identification code from the equipment, and then transmits data corresponding to the received code to a remote monitoring server. In this manner, data regarding the anomalies of each device is collected in the remote monitoring server.
Patent Document 3 discloses a technique of that a client computer acquires status data from a printer connected through a network. The client computer measures the amount of traffic in the network when acquiring the status data from the printer. When the amount of traffic is larger than a predetermined amount, the client computer waits until the amount of traffic becomes less than the predetermined amount. After the amount of traffic becomes less than the predetermined amount, the client computer acquires the status data.

Information collection system, server apparatus, edge apparatus, control method, and program


Various solutions for reducing power consumption with wake-up mechanism with respect to user equipment and network apparatus in mobile communications are described. An apparatus may receive a configuration to monitor a wake-up indication (WUI) on predetermined occasions. The apparatus may monitor the WUI according to the configuration. The apparatus may determine whether the WUI is received. The apparatus may monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in an event that the WUI is received.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.
In New Radio (NR), for a user equipment (UE) in the connected mode, data exchange with the network is expected to be sporadic. The UE will spend most of its time only for monitoring the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). Even for data intensive activities such as video streaming, with improvements in data rates in NR, it is expected that the video data is buffered fairly quickly, and the UE drops into a state of data inactivity during which only PDCCH monitoring takes place. Such state will cause unnecessary power consumption and is not beneficial for UE power management.
The discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism in NR that is inherited from Long-Term Evolution (LTE), requires the UE to only intermittently monitor PDCCH, allowing the UE to transit to sleep in the interval. However, the level of power savings that can be achieved with DRX is down to the network configuration. The percentage of time in a DRX cycle that a UE needs to stay awake for, directly corresponds to the power savings possible. The monitoring window of the DRX mechanism (e.g., DRX on duration) can be quite long (e.g., ≥10 ms) which causes the UE to burn power for downlink monitoring. The UE power consumption is unable to be properly controlled if the network configuration is not well designed.
Accordingly, in addition to the conventional DRX mechanism, how to further reduce UE power consumption becomes an important issue for the newly developed wireless communication network. Therefore, it is needed to provide better schemes to properly monitor radio channels with enhanced power management mechanisms.

Method and apparatus for reducing power consumption with wake-up mechanism in mobile communications


The invention provides a distributed application server comprising a cluster of two or more nodes in a peer configuration. The two or more nodes are associated with at least one message stream comprising a plurality of messages propagated through the associated nodes. The invention also provides a method of implementing a distributed application server comprising the steps of arranging a cluster of two or more nodes in a peer configuration and associating the nodes with at least one message stream.

In broad terms an application server is an information system that provides the run-time environment for applications.
Generally speaking, the applications hosted by application servers handle transactions between an organisation's database servers and/or back and business applications and any end users or clients who wish to access those resources.
FIG. 1 shows a simplified scenario in which one or more clients 110 may access central computing resources 120 via an application server 130. A client may be, for example, a workstation operating under appropriate operating system and application software. Client requests may require the application server to access one or more resources, for example an object database 120A, a relational database 120B, or an external application 120C. This type of arrangement may be satisfactory for a small business with centralised resources which several employees need to access from their workstations.
However, in today's environment, especially with the popularity of the Internet and a growing array of other wireless and telecommunications networks, more and more organisations are offering services to consumers over traditional WAN's, wireless network and wireline networks via an application server. These services could include, for example, access to a private database over the Internet or in the context of the telecommunications services call forwarding services from a client's home phone to mobile phone or voice mail access. Consumers of such services are creating a high demand for new services that integrate features from the Internet, wireless and wireline networks. Application server technology is becoming increasingly complex to keep pace with these consumer demands.
There is considerable pressure for application servers to be highly available, highly scalable, fault tolerant, and to facilitate the rapid development of next generation services for clients and consumers. It would be useful to have a distributed application server that was highly scalable, fault tolerant, portable and standardised and that was suitable for service provisioning in an integrated network.

Distributed application server and method for implementing distributed functions


A door lock is provided with a biometric sensor and a key cylinder. The biometric sensor is protected by being positioned on a shield, and such that the sensor is not exposed to damage by being on the front face of the door lock. The shield extends vertically downwardly from the remainder of the front face of the door lock, and the sensor is mounted to an inner face of the shield. Thus, the sensor is spaced away from a door when the door lock is mounted on a door. A finger may be inserted into a space between the sensor and the door, and the sensor can then capture information about the fingerprint. This information can be compared to expected fingerprints, and entry into a building can be granted based upon a recognition of this fingerprint.

This application relates to a door lock that utilizes either a mechanical key, or a biometric sensor to identify an authorized user, and wherein the biometric sensor is positioned to be between a shield on the door lock and the door, such that the sensor is protected.
Door locks are utilized to allow selective entry into a building. As is well known, door locks have traditionally included a mechanical key that moves a plurality of mechanical members to allow lock structure to turn and unlock a door. One known type of door lock is a deadbolt, wherein a key turns a rotating shaft to in turn actuate a deadbolt mechanism and either lock or unlock a door.
More recently, biometric sensors have been incorporated into doors. A biometric sensor is essentially a sensor that is able to identify an individual user based upon some trait of the user. Known types of biometric sensors use fingerprint recognition software, voice recognition software, etc. While biometric sensors have been proposed for use in door locks, they have typically been mounted into an outer facing surface of the door lock. A sensor on this surface would be unprotected, and subject to damage. In addition, a sensor in the outwardly facing surface would present aesthetic challenges to a designer of the door lock.

Door lock with protected biometric sensor


The present invention includes a catalyst having a layered structure with, (1) a porous support, (2) a buffer layer, (3) an interfacial layer, and optionally (4) a catalyst layer. The invention also provides a process in which a reactant is converted to a product by passing through a reaction chamber containing the catalyst.

Hydrogen and hydrocarbon conversion reactions including such as steam reforming, water-gas shift reactions, methanol synthesis and catalytic combustion are well known. These reactions are usually carried out at temperatures between 150 and 1000° C. Currently these reactions are industrially run using catalyst pellets which consist of an active catalytic metal or metal oxide deposited on high surface area ceramic pellets.
Foam or monolith catalysts are known that have three layers (1) porous support, (2) interfacial layer, and (3) catalyst metal as described in [1]. In making these catalysts, the interfacial layer has been deposited by various methods including solution impregnation techniques. The catalyst layer may be deposited by solution impregnation techniques. The interfacial layer has greater surface area than the porous support whereas the porous support has greater mechanical strength than the interfacial layer.
The porous support may be a metal or ceramic foam. Metal foams are highly thermally conductive and easy to machine. The sponge-like mechanical properties allow convenient sealing in a reaction chamber via mechanical contact. The closely matched thermal expansion between the metal foam and the housing reaction chamber minimizes cracking of the porous support and minimizes gas channeling around the porous support at higher reaction temperatures. Pestryakov et al prepared metal foam supported transition metal oxide catalysts with [1] and without [2] an intermediate gamma-alumina layer for the oxidation of n-butane. Kosak [3] examined several approaches to disperse precious metals on various metal foams where the surface was pre-etched with HCl solution, and reported that electroless deposition provides the best adhesion of precious metals to the foam supports. Podyacheva et al. [4] also synthesized foam metal supported LaCoO3 perovskite catalyst with a porous alumina intermediate for methane oxidation. Despite all of the potential advantages with metal foam supported catalysts, metal foam has low corrosion resistance and its nonporous and smooth web surfaces have provided poor adhesion to ceramic materials, and these materials are prone to spalling of interfacial layers after thermal cycling because of the mismatch in thermal expansion.
In order to increase corrosion resistance, methods such as diffusion alloying with Al, Cr, and Si have been used to fabricate ferritic steels, which are typically used for the manufacturing of high temperature furnace elements (about 1200° C.) [5]. When the aluminum containing ferritic steels are appropriately heat-treated, aluminum migrates to the alloy surface and forms a strongly adhering oxide film which is resistant to oxygen diffusion. Such ferritic steel foils have been used to fabricate metal monoliths with >10 ppi (pores per inch) open cells [6]. However, the search for the similar alloy foams with pores suitable for catalytic applications (<20 ppi, 80 ppi preferred) has been fruitless. This has been attributed to both the immature methods for making the finer Al-ferritic steel foams and the lack of the alloy precursors for making the foams.
Hence, there is a need in the art of supported catalysts for a porous support of a foam that is resistant to corrosion or oxidation and resists cracking of the interfacial layer.

Catalyst, method of making, and reactions using the catalyst


A vacuum valve comprises a conical sealing surface arranged at a valve body, a valve disk at which a conical sealing surface is arranged, and a sealing ring having a first sealing surface and a second sealing surface. The valve disk, the valve body and the sealing ring are made of metal at least in the areas of the sealing surfaces. The valve disk is constructed so as to be curved or angled considered in axial section through the center and encloses an angle of less than 90° with the closing direction in the unloaded state at least in a radial outer portion adjoining the sealing surface. The valve disk has an elasticity such that a displacement of the radial outer edge of the valve disk relative to a point in the center of the valve disk of at least 0.1% of the diameter of the valve disk in direction of the center axis of the valve disk is bought about in the closed position of the valve disk relative to the open position of the valve disk by an elastic deformation of the valve disk.

a) Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a vacuum valve with a conical sealing surface which is arranged at a valve body and which surrounds a valve opening, a valve disk which is rotationally symmetrical with respect to its center axis and at which a conical sealing surface is arranged and which is displaceable between an open position in the open state of the vacuum valve and a closed position in the sealed state of the vacuum valve, the movement of the valve disk when closing the vacuum valve taking place, at least in a final part of the closing movement before reaching the closed position, in a closing direction extending parallel to the center axis of the valve disk, and with a sealing ring having a first sealing surface and a second sealing surface which are pressed against the sealing surface of the valve body on one side and against the sealing surface of the valve disk on the other side in the closed position of the valve disk. The valve disk, the valve body and the sealing ring are made of metal at least in the areas of the sealing surfaces.
b) Description of the Related Art
A vacuum valve of the type mentioned above which is constructed as an all-metal valve is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,905. This is a proven construction that is used particularly for high-vacuum applications. However, a disadvantage of this vacuum valve consists in that the force to be applied for tightly closing the valve (closing force) is relative large.
Another vacuum valve of this type is known from DE 44 46 947 C2. In order to reduce the required closing force, the sealing ring in this vacuum valve has a necked-down portion which is located in the area between the two sealing surfaces and which is formed by a V-shaped construction (with an opening angle greater than 90°) of the two side surfaces which connect the sealing surfaces. While this reduces the required closing force, this closing force is still relatively large.
DE 26 23 906 A1 discloses a vacuum valve in which the valve disk is provided with an annular disk that projects outward. The outward circumferential narrow side of the disk is rounded and forms a sealing surface. The disk is constructed so as to be flexible in the manner of a disk spring and extends forward diagonally (with reference to the closing direction), i.e., viewed in longitudinal section, it encloses an angle of less than 90° with the closing direction of the valve disk. The outer sealing surface of this disk cooperates with a conical sealing surface at the valve body. A disadvantage of this valve consists in that a deficient tightness of the valve can result even with very close tolerances of the geometry of the disk and sealing surface of the valve body, for example, roundness defects. Also, snap effects can occur when the valve is opened, particularly when the valve has been heated. For this reason, this vacuum valve has not had practical success.
Further, AT 396 285 B discloses a vacuum valve in which an actuation member which is constructed in the manner of an expanding cone cooperates with a saucer-type closure member. For this purpose, a ring disk is constructed integral with the saucer-type closure member. When the actuation member moves in, the ring disk which is constructed in the manner of a disk spring forms a spreading element which presses the saucer-type closure member outward so that an outer sealing edge of the saucer-type closure member is pressed against a conical sealing surface of the valve body in order to seal the vacuum valve. This vacuum valve requires a relatively large force for closing tightly. Further, relatively slight geometric inaccuracies in this vacuum valve lead to deficient tightness of the valve.


A vehicle seat includes a seat part and a partitioned back rest. The back rest has a first segment and a second segment. The segments are each equipped with an inclination adjuster. The adjusters include means for limiting the inclination of one segment relative to the other.

The invention relates to a vehicle seat comprising a seat part and a partitioned back rest which comprises a first segment and a second segment, said segments being each equipped with an inclination adjuster.
The generic vehicle seats are known from the prior art, for example from DE 198 19 776. The vehicle seats disclosed therein, however, often have safety deficiencies and/or may be used in a manner which is not intended.
It was, therefore, the object of the present invention to improve the safety of such vehicle seats, in particular rear seat benches and to avoid incorrect use.

Vehicle seat comprising a partitioned back rest


A device configured to enable multi-room streaming is described. The device may be configured to enable multi-room streaming at diverse destination devices. The device may be configured to receive a user selection of a media item for playback at a plurality of diverse destination devices using a unified graphical user interface. The device may be configured to transmit respective commands such that the media item is paused at a start position without audible playback occurring at each of the destination devices.

Digital media may be stored on multiple sources including, removable storage devices including, for example, memory cards and removable drives, networked storage devices including, for example, local media servers and so-called cloud based storage devices. Further, digital media may originate from an online media service provider. Services provided by an online media service provider may be referred to as streaming services. Devices including laptop or desktop computers, tablet computers, televisions, digital video recorders, set-top boxes, digital media players, video gaming devices, video game consoles, audio systems, and cellular telephones, including so-called smart phones may include digital media playback capabilities. Typically, a user may want to access digital media using one device, an intermediate device, and ultimately have the digital media presented on another device, a destination device. For example, a user may wish to access a digital media file, such as a movie, using a smart phone and ultimately have the movie presented on a high resolution television.
Currently, it may be difficult for a user to transmit a media file from a source to a destination device using an intermediate device. That is, storage formats, device operating systems, and transmission protocols may not be compatible.

Systems and methods for transmitting data from multiple sources to multiple destinations


The wristwatch includes in its case a resistive piezo-electric pressure and temperature sensor (26) exposed to a pressure chamber (42) communicating with the outside environment, for measuring ambient pressure. In order to provide individual calibration as a function of temperature followed by a permanent correction of the sensor pressure signals, the latter is fixed to the lower surface of a printed circuit board (30) bearing the electronic circuits (35) processing the sensor signals. The calibration parameters are stored in a non-volatile memory (36) of said circuits. A rigid and sealed separating wall (43) forms an internal bottom separating the pressure chamber (42) from the watch sealed part.

The present invention concerns an electronic watch providing barometer or altimeter reading based on ambient pressure, including:
a case the interior of which is divided by separating means into a sealed part and a pressure chamber which communicates with the exterior of the case so as to receive the ambient pressure,
an electric power source,
a pressure sensor having one side exposed to the pressure prevailing in the pressure chamber,
display means for providing time indication and said barometer or altimeter reading, and
a printed circuit board disposed in the sealed part of the case and provided with timekeeping circuits and electronic circuits arranged to receive and process an output signal from the pressure sensor and to control the barometer or altimeter reading display means.
The invention also concerns a method for manufacturing such a watch.
Electronic watches of this type are known, in particular from U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,716 or from European Patent No. 640 896 which provides the analogue display of the atmospheric pressure, the tendency of such pressure and the altitude by means of hands in connection with the watch dial.
In this type of barometer and/or altimeter watch, the implantation of the pressure sensor poses problems as regards the space requirement, the watch tightness, electric connections and the internal deformations due to the pressure differences between the sealed part and the pressure chamber in which ambient pressure prevails, i.e. atmospheric pressure, to which hydrostatic pressure is added if the watch is immersed in water.
The case of the first electronic barometer and/or altimeter watches included a lateral appendix specially designed to contain the pressure sensor and having orifices communicating with the outside environment. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,772 and European Patent No. 345 929. This solution had the advantage of keeping the sealing system of conventional watch cases, but this appendix was unattractive and sometimes inconvenient. This thus lead to the pressure sensor being implanted inside a watch case of ordinary shape, which requires a pressure chamber in case.
This results in additional difficulties to assure the sealing and resistance to pressure prevailing within the case.
For example in the watch disclosed in European Patent No. 640 896, the pressure sensor is housed in the case in proximity to the middle part, under a plate of the clockwork movement against which it is held. A small pressure chamber is arranged between the top of the sensor and the plate and communicates with the exterior via a channel which passes through the plate and the middle part and opens out under a rotating bezel. A cover arranged between the back cover of the case and the sensor carries electric connections connecting the latter to an integrated circuit located beside the sensor and processing the signal to provide barometer and/or altimeter readings. Additional electric connections are necessary to connect this integrated circuit to the other electric circuits of the watch, in particular to those which control the display.
This known construction takes a considerable amount of space as regards height and requires special arrangements to assure sealing around the pressure chamber and around the channel connecting the latter to the outside.
Further, there is a problem of variation in the sensor output signal as a function of temperature. This variation is different from one sensor of the same type to the next. For a variation of 10xc2x0 C., the altimeter readings provided with piezo-electric sensors currently used, which are relatively inexpensive, may vary by up to approximately. 100 m in altitude.
The Applicant has imagined calibrating each sensor as a function of temperature variations, calculating the signal calibrating parameters and storing them in the electronic circuits associated with the sensor, but such a process would be excessively expensive in the industrial manufacture of a watch according to European Patent No. 640 896 because it could only be applied once the sensor and the associated electronic circuits are assembled, i.e. after assembly thereof in the case.
In European Patent No. 670 532, an internal bottom is provided separating the interior of the watch case into a sealed part, which contains the watch movement, and a pressure chamber which is located between the internal bottom and an outer bottom which is pierced with several holes. The internal bottom carries a pressure sensor which is electrically connected to the electronic movement control by a flexible contact tongue allowing any bending of the internal bottom due to pressure to be absorbed. However, this construction has a relatively large thickness and does not resolve the aforementioned calibration problem.
The object of the present invention is to avoid the aforementioned drawbacks and it concerns a watch, in particular a wristwatch, allowing individual calibration of the readings provided by an inexpensive pressure sensor, owing to a suitable construction and an economically acceptable manufacturing method.
An additional object of the invention consists in arranging the watch so as to guarantee proper sealing and to avoid problems due to deformations resulting from variations in ambient pressure in the pressure chamber.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an electronic watch of the type defined hereinbefore, characterised in that the pressure sensor is secured to the printed circuit board, to which it is directly connected by electric connections.
These features allow the pressure sensor to be associated with the electronic circuits intended to process its output signal, at an early stage of manufacture. Thus, temperature measuring means may be installed on the printed circuit board and the electronic circuits may include a non volatile memory wherein individual calibrating parameters of the pressure sensor can be stored, and these parameters can be determined and stored in the memory before the instrument is assembled, as will be explained hereinafter.
However, it should be noted that the invention may also be implemented in an instrument which has no temperature measuring means, thus, also without using a memory for individual pressure sensor calibrating parameters, either because inferior pressure measuring precision is accepted, or because a pressure sensor which is temperature compensated or which has a low temperature related drift becomes available at an acceptable price.
Preferably, the separating means include a separating wall connected to the case in a sealed manner along its periphery and having an opening in which said sensor is placed.
This allows the case interior to be conveniently divided into a sealed part and a pressure chamber which may have any shape and size. This wall bears the effect of the external pressure in the pressure chamber and thus protects the plate carrying the display members and, if necessary, the clockwork movement in the sealed part. The separating wall may easily be connected to the case in a sealed manner along its periphery, like a double bottom, and the pressure chamber extending between this double bottom and the back cover of the case may advantageously contain an electro-acoustic transducer arranged to transmit sounds in this chamber which communicates with the outside.
The sensor used is preferably a pressure and temperature sensor of the piezo-resistive type including resistors connected in a Wheatstone bridge in which the bridge resistance varies only as a function of temperature, while variations in pressure create an unbalance in the bridge.
Another aspect of the invention concerns a method for manufacturing a watch as defined above, wherein said electronic circuits include a non volatile memory intended for storing the individual pressure sensor calibrating parameters, the method including the successive steps of:
a) manufacturing the printed circuit board and mounting at least the pressure sensor and said electronic circuits on this board to form a sub-assembly;
b) calibrating said sub-assembly in different temperature and pressure conditions and determining sensor calibrating parameters as a function of such conditions;
c) storing the calibrating parameters in the non volatile memory of the electronic circuits;
d) if necessary, completing the sub-assembly with other components which have to be carried by the printed circuit board; and
e) mounting said sub-assembly and the other watch components in the case.

Watch providing barometer or altimeter reading, and method for making same


A method, in a memory including multiple analog memory cells, includes segmenting a group of the memory cells into a common section and at least first and second dedicated sections. Each dedicated section corresponds to a read threshold that is used for reading a data page to be stored in the group. Data to be stored in the group is jointly balanced over a union of the common section and the first dedicated section, and over the union of the common section and the second dedicated section, to create a balanced page such that for each respective read threshold an equal number of memory cells will be programmed to assume programming levels that are separated by the read threshold. The balanced page is stored to the common and dedicated sections, and the read thresholds are adjusted based on detecting imbalance between data values in readout results of the balanced page.

In analog memory devices, a set of thresholds is often used for reading data stored in the memory cells. The process of adjusting the thresholds may be affected by the prevalence of one-bits versus zero-bits in the stored data.
Sulaiman Al-Bassam et al. present balanced codes in "On balanced codes," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, March, 1990, volume 36 (issue 2), pages 406-408, which is incorporated herein by reference. The paper discusses balanced code wherein each codeword contains an equal number of 1's and 0's. Parallel decoding balanced codes with 2r (or 2r−1) information bits are presented, where r is the number of check bits.
In "Balanced Modulation for Nonvolatile Memories," in Computing Research Repository (CoRR, 2012), which is incorporated herein by reference, Hongchao Zhou et al. present a practical writing/reading scheme in nonvolatile memories, called balanced modulation, for minimizing the asymmetric component of errors. The scheme encodes data using a balanced error-correcting code. When reading information from a block, the scheme adjusts the reading threshold such that the resulting word is also balanced or approximately balanced.
Zhou et al. present schemes with dynamic thresholds in "Error-Correcting Schemes with Dynamic Thresholds in Nonvolatile Memories," Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT 2011), St. Petersburg, Russia, July 31-Aug. 5, 2011, pages 2143-2147, which is incorporated herein by reference. The authors construct error-correcting schemes with dynamic reading thresholds, so that the asymmetric component of errors are minimized. Additionally, the authors discuss how to select dynamic reading thresholds without knowing cell level distributions, and present several error-correcting schemes.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,059,439, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an encoding scheme that allows a CAM device to selectively store, within each cell of a row of the CAM device, either a single bit of a binary value or two bits of an encoded data word encoded from the binary value. The encoded data words can be balanced data words that have equal number of logic high and logic low values.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,000,161, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method of encoding data stored in a crossbar memory array, such as a nanowire crossbar memory array, to enable significant increases in memory size, modifies data words to have equal numbers of '1' bits and '0' bits, and stores the modified words together with information enabling the original data to be retrieved upon being read out from memory.

Threshold adjustment using data value balancing in analog memory device


A system and method for segmentation of anatomical structures in MRI volumes using graph cuts is disclosed. In this method, a template is registered to an MRI brain volume. The template identifies seed points of anatomical brain structures, such as the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem, in the MRI brain volume. Any or all of the anatomical brain structures can be segmented using graph cuts segmentation initialized based on the seed points identified by the template. It is possible to segment each of the anatomical brain structures by performing a hierarchical three-phase segmentation process including brain/non-brain segmentation, cerebrum/cerebellum and brain stem segmentation, and cerebellum/brain stem segmentation.

The present invention relates to segmentation of anatomical structures in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumes, and more particularly, to 3D segmentation of anatomical structures of the brain in MRI volumes using graph cuts.
The quantitative analysis of anatomical structures, such as the cerebrum, cerebellum, and the brain stem in MRI brain volumes is important in the study and detection of cerebral disease. In particular, volumetric quantification of cerebral and cerebellar tissues is important in image-based assessment of neuroanatomical disorders such as autism and Asperger's syndrome. The segmentation of the anatomical structures of the brain can be difficult due to problems such as lack of boundaries between the anatomical structures, poor contrast in medical images of the brain, and noise in the images, which is mainly attributed to the image acquisition systems (e.g., MRI) and partial volume effects. Accordingly, because of such problems, image segmentation methods such as active contours or region growing are subject to leakage issues and are not reliable. Since a manual delineation of the anatomical brain structures is too time consuming, various techniques have been developed to increase robustness in segmenting anatomical brain structures. These techniques include active contours with shape model prior knowledge, atlas registration, and interactive graph cuts segmentation.
In active contour with shape model prior knowledge techniques, a prior shape constraint is incorporated into the active contour evolution in order to further constrain the segmentation. Shape priors can be modeled by a known class of shapes or through statistical training. These techniques are highly dependent on the selection of an accurate shape prior. Accordingly, the choice of the models for the training or for the class of shapes determines the accuracy of the segmentation.
In atlas registration techniques, combinations of rigid and non-rigid transformations of an atlas are used to aid in detecting the internal structures in an MR image of the brain. For an atlas to be accurate, the atlas typically must be very complex. Although these techniques can be successful, there typically is a high computational cost and it is difficult to construct an accurate atlas. Thus, these techniques can be time consuming and expensive.
In interactive graph cuts techniques, an MRI brain volume is represented as a discrete graph. The graph is generated using vertices representing the image pixels (or voxels), as well as edges connecting the vertices, typically using 6 or 26 neighborhood connectivity. A user marks certain pixels as object or background, which would define the terminals of the graph. Graph cuts are then calculated to determine the segmentation. The quality of the segmentation depends on the number of seeds used in initialization. In this technique, it can be difficult for a user to accurately mark the object and background. In addition, many seeds must be added in order to give a strong spatial constraint for the graph cuts. Accordingly, graph cuts segmentation techniques can lead to erroneous segmentations.

System and method for segmentation of anatomical structures in MRI volumes using graph cuts


The present invention relates to an air conditioning system for a vehicle and a method for controlling the same and, more specifically, to an air conditioning system for a vehicle and a method for controlling the same in which an opening/closing valve and an expansion valve are installed on a branch line connecting a first air conditioning unit and a second air conditioning unit, the opening/closing valve is always open so as to always supply a refrigerant to the second air conditioning unit during a cooling mode, and the opening/closing valve is always closed so as to always block the refrigerant supply to the second air conditioning unit during a heating mode, such that the refrigerant flows into the branch line of the second air conditioning unit even during a single cooling mode, thereby solving the problem wherein the pressure of a compressor increases, oil is forcibly circulated through a notch of the expansion valve, thereby solving the problem wherein the oil circulation rate decreases, and the refrigerant supply to the second air conditioning unit is blocked during a dual heating mode, thereby solving the problem wherein the heating performance of an electric heating type heater decreases when the second air conditioning unit is operated.

In general, as shown in FIG. 1, an air conditioning system for a vehicle has a refrigeration cycle that includes: a compressor 1 for compressing and discharging refrigerant; a condenser 2 for condensing the refrigerant of high pressure discharged from the compressor 1; an expansion valve 3 for throttling the refrigerant condensed and liquefied in the condenser 2; and an evaporator 4 for exchanging heat between the liquefied refrigerant of low pressure throttled by the expansion valve 3 and air blown to the interior of the vehicle and for evaporating the refrigerant to cool the air discharged to the interior of the vehicle through heat absorption by evaporative latent heat, and that the compressor 1, the condenser 2, the expansion valve 3 and the evaporator 4 are connected with one another via refrigeration pipes. The air conditioning system cools the interior of the vehicle through the following refrigerant circulation process.
When a cooling switch (not shown) of the air conditioning system is turned on, first, the compressor 1 inhales and compresses vapor-phase refrigerant of low-temperature and low-pressure while driving by driving power of an engine or a motor, and then sends the refrigerant in the gaseous phase of high-temperature and high-pressure to the condenser 2. Then, the condenser 2 condenses the vapor-phase refrigerant into liquid-phase refrigerant of high-temperature and high-pressure by exchanging heat with outdoor air. After that, the liquid-phase refrigerant of high-temperature and high-pressure sent from the condenser 2 rapidly expands by a throttling action of the expansion valve 3 and is sent to the evaporator 4 in a wet-saturated state of low-temperature and low-pressure. The evaporator 4 exchanges heat between the refrigerant and air blown to the interior of the vehicle by a blower (not shown). Then, the refrigerant is evaporated in the evaporator 4 and discharged in a gaseous phase of low-temperature and low-pressure. After that, the vapor-phase refrigerant is inhaled into the compressor 1, and then, recirculates the refrigeration cycle as described above.
The evaporator is mounted inside the air-conditioning case mounted to the interior of the vehicle to cool the interior of the vehicle. That is, the air blown by the blower (not shown) is cooled by evaporative latent heat of the liquid-phase refrigerant circulating inside the evaporator 4 and discharged to the interior of the vehicle in a cooled state so as to cool the interior of the vehicle.
Moreover, the interior of the vehicle is heated by a heater core (not shown), which is mounted inside the air-conditioning case, and, through which coolant of the engine circulates, or by an electric heater (not shown) mounted inside the air-conditioning case.
In the meantime, the condenser 2 is mounted at the front side of the vehicle to radiate heat while exchanging heat with air.
Recently, an air conditioning system which carries out heating and cooling only using a refrigeration cycle has been developed. As shown in FIG. 2, such an air conditioning system includes: a cold air passageway 11 and a warm air passageway 12 which are partitioned to the right and the left inside a first air conditioning unit 10; an evaporator 4 mounted on the cold air passageway 11 for cooling; and a condenser 2 mounted on the warm air passageway 12 for heating.
In this instance, at an outlet of the air conditioning unit 10, air outflow ports 15 for supplying air to the interior of the vehicle and air discharge ports 16 for discharging air to the exterior of the vehicle.
Furthermore, blowers 20 which are operated individually are respectively mounted at an inlet of the cold air passageway 11 and at an inlet of the warm air passageway 12.
Because the warm air passageway 12 and the cold air passageway 11 are arranged at right and left sides (in the width direction of the vehicle), the two blowers 20 are also arranged at right and left sides.
Therefore, in a cooling mode, cold air cooled while passing through the evaporator 4 of the cold air passageway 11 is discharged to the interior of the vehicle through the air outflow ports 15 to cool the interior of the vehicle, and in this instance, warm air heated while passing through the condenser 2 of the warm air passageway 12 is discharged to the exterior of the vehicle through the air discharge ports 16.
In a heating mode, warm air heated while passing through the condenser 2 of the warm air passageway 12 is discharged to the interior of the vehicle through the air outflow ports 15 to heat the interior of the vehicle, and in this instance, cold air cooled while passing through the evaporator 4 of the cold air passageway 11 is discharged to the exterior of the vehicle through the air discharge ports 16.
In a dehumidification mode, the air conditioning system is operated like in the cooling mode so that dried cold air passing the evaporator 4 is supplied to the interior of the vehicle to cool and dehumidify the interior of the vehicle.
Moreover, in the conventional air conditioning system, the evaporator 4 and the condenser 2 are arranged inside the first air conditioning unit 10 and a compressor 1 and an expansion valve 3 is arranged outside the air conditioning unit, so that the evaporator 4 and the condenser 2 are connected with the compressor 1 and the expansion valve 3 through a refrigerant line L.
The first air conditioning unit 10 supplies air-conditioned air to the front seat space inside the vehicle, and as shown in FIG. 2, the second air conditioning unit 50 is mounted in order to supply air-conditioned air to the rear seat space inside the vehicle.
The second air conditioning unit 50 includes a rear evaporator 51 and an electric heater 52, and the rear evaporator 51 is connected with the refrigerant line L of the first air conditioning unit 10 through a rear refrigerant line L1.
Furthermore, an expansion valve 53 for expanding refrigerant supplied to the rear evaporator 51 is mounted on the rear refrigerant line L1.
Therefore, in a single cooling mode that only the first air conditioning unit 10 is operated, the expansion valve 53 is closed so that refrigerant does not flow to the second air conditioning unit 50, but in a dual cooling mode that the first air conditioning unit 10 and the second air conditioning unit 50 are all operated, the expansion valve 53 is opened so that expanded refrigerant flows to the second air conditioning unit 50.
Additionally, in a single heating mode and a dual heating mode, the expansion valve 53 is closed so that refrigerant does not flow to the second air conditioning unit 50.
However, because the expansion valve 53 is closed in the single cooling mode that only the first air conditioning unit 10 is operated, the conventional air conditioning system has several disadvantages in that an oil circulation ratio which has influence on durability of the compressor 1 is reduced since oil remaining in the rear refrigerant line L1 of the second air conditioning unit 50 is not circulated, and in that discharged pressure of the compressor 1 rises since a flow of refrigerant to the rear refrigerant line L1 of the second air conditioning unit 50 is blocked.
In addition, the expansion valve 53 must be closed in the dual heating mode that the first air conditioning unit 10 and the second air conditioning unit 50 are all operated, but the expansion valve 53 is often opened automatically when indoor air is introduced into the second air conditioning unit 50 and temperature of an outlet of the rear evaporator 51 rises. So, in the dual heating mode, the expansion valve 53 of the rear refrigerant line L1 is operated and expanded refrigerant is supplied to the rear evaporator 51 of the second air conditioning unit 50, and it causes deterioration in heating performance using the electric heater 52 inside the second air conditioning unit 50.

Air conditioning system for vehicle and method for controlling same


The present invention is directed to a method for the synthesis of a bi-functional complex comprising a molecule part and an identifier oligonucleotide part identifying the molecule part. A part of the synthesis method according to the present invention is preferably conducted in one or more organic solvents when a nascent bi-functional complex comprising an optionally protected tag or oligonucleotide identifier is linked to a solid support, and another part of the synthesis method is preferably conducted under conditions suitable for enzymatic addition of an oligonucleotide tag to a nascent bi-functional complex in solution.

Libraries of bi-functional complexes can be produced by methods commonly known as split-and-mix methods, or by parallel, but separate synthesis of individual bi-functional complexes followed by mixing of such individually synthesized bi-functional complexes.
In a split-and-mix method, different synthesis reactions are performed in a plurality of different reaction compartments. The contents of the various reaction compartments are collected (mixed) and subsequently split into a number of different compartments for a new round of synthesis reactions. The sequential synthesis steps of a split-and-mix method are continued until the desired molecules have been synthesised.
It is often desirable to perform an encoded synthesis in order to be able to readily identify desirable molecules, for example after a selection step involving targeting a library of different bi-functional complexes to a molecular target. Encoded synthesis of biochemical molecules is disclosed by Lerner e.g. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,573,905, 5,723,598 and 6,060,596. One part of the bi-functional complexes is in the form of a molecule part and the other part is in the form of an identifier oligonucleotide comprising a plurality of oligonucleotide tags which encodes and identifies the building block residues which participated in the formation of the molecule and optionally the chemistries used for reacting the building block residues in the formation of the molecule. The oligonucleotide tags described by Lerner are added to each other exclusively by chemical ligation methods employing nucleotide-phosphoramidite chemistry.
The above-cited library synthesis principles require standard organic synthesis steps for both the sequential, chemical ligation of oligonucleotide tags and for the synthesis of the small molecule that is encoded by the resulting oligonucleotide identifier. It is an essential requirement, in the method described by Lerner, that the synthesis of the identifier oligonucleotide is completely orthogonal to the synthesis of the small molecule.
Facile organic synthesis of oligonucleotide tags used for the above-mentioned library synthesis principles employs nucleotide-phosphoramidite chemistry. This requires an efficient coupling of a trivalent phosphoramidite with the nucleophilic 5′ OH-group of the growing nucleotide chain. Thus, any unprotected nucleophile present in the molecule part of the bi-functional complex may also react with tag phosphoramidite reactive groups in subsequent tag synthesis step and electrophilic groups present in the molecule part may also in some cases react with the nucleophilic 5′ OH-group, which was intended to react with the phosphoramidite functional group of the incoming oligonucleotide tag.
Also, any protection groups used for protection of either the molecule, in its intermediate form, where such are used for controlling and directing its synthesis into the molecule or into a further intermediate of the molecule, and all protection groups used by the oligonucleotide tag must be compatible with the conditions applied, when the tag oligonucleotide is attached by use of chemical reaction based methods.
Furthermore, each round of nucleotide addition by phosphoramidite chemistry requires many steps, such as oxidation, capping of unreacted 5′-OH-groups, and DMT-deprotection using acidic conditions, all of which may challenge the integrity or reactivity of the small molecule part of the bi-functional complex.
As will be clear from the above, many prior art split-and-mix methods for performing an encoded synthesis are constrained in their application because of a lack of compatible chemistries between alternating synthesis procedures for adding to an intermediate bi-functional complex i) a reactive compound building block and ii) an oligonucleotide tag identifying said reactive compound building block and optionally the chemistry for said reaction, respectively.
It is a general problem that the reaction conditions and chemistries available for reacting reactive compound building blocks are far from always compatible with the phosphoramidite reaction conditions and chemistries required for performing the chemical ligation methods needed for adding an oligonucleotide tag to the identifier oligonucleotide of an intermediate bi-functional complex. Also, chemical synthesis methods exclusively employing on-bead combinatorial chemistry in the absence of any possibility for performing "in solution" reaction steps are constrained with respect to certain types of chemical reaction conditions typically used only in solution.
For several prior art split-and-mix methods, the problem of how to increase the sequential synthesis compatibility has been solved by including or even increasing the number of protection groups present on both the reactive compound building blocks and on the oligonucleotide tags identifying said reactive compound building block. The protection groups are added in a step-wise fashion as the alternating synthesis steps are performed. However, step-wise protection and deprotection reactions are cumbersome and have limited applicability when synthesising large libraries. This is due to a lack of available and compatible chemistries as well as the need to include a large number of different protection groups. This is being further complicated in split-and-mix synthesis methods, where many different molecules are in the process of being formed as a mixture, and all of these molecules in their intermediate form must be compatible with the conditions used for attaching the oligonucleotide tag.
Accordingly, many different protections groups will have to be employed in order to protect equally many different kinds of reactive groups in the molecules. In many cases, a library synthesis step can only be performed after several different protection reactions have taken place. Consequently, it is often regarded as undesirable, but necessary, to perform the number of protection and deprotection steps required for obtaining the needed degree of protection (and deprotection) of both reactive compound building blocks and oligonucleotide tags.
One cannot achieve sequential protection and deprotection of both reactive compound building blocks and oligonucleotide tag reactive groups without carrying out a certain number of protection group reactions. Accordingly, the requirement for orthogonality constitutes a major limitation of many prior art split-and-mix library synthesis methods and makes such methods cumbersome to use when synthesising large libraries.
Another approach for performing split-and-mix library synthesis methods is disclosed in WO 2004/039825 and WO 2007/062664. Unlike the above-cited library synthesis methods, WO 2004/039825 and WO 2007/062664 disclose methods wherein identifier oligonucleotide tags are ligated enzymatically. Enzymes are in general substrate specific and enzymatic ligation of identifier oligonucleotide tags is therefore unlikely to interfere with the synthesis of the molecule part of a bi-functional complex.
WO 00/23458 discloses yet another split-and-mix based approach, wherein molecule synthesis is both identified by and directed by oligonucleotide tags. A plurality of nucleic acid templates are used, each template having a chemical reaction site and a plurality of codons. The templates are partitioned by hybridisation of a first codon region to an immobilised probe and subsequently each of the strands of the template is reacted at the chemical reaction site(s) with specific building blocks. Subsequently, all the template strands are pooled and subjected to a second partitioning based on a second codon region. The split-and-mix method is conducted an appropriate number of times to produce a library of typically between 103 and 106 different compounds. This method has the disadvantage that a large number of nucleic acid templates must be provided. In the event a final library of 106 different compounds is desired, a total of 106 nucleic acid templates must be synthesised. The synthesis is generally cumbersome and expensive because the nucleic acid templates must be of a certain minimum length to secure sufficient hybridisation between codon regions and complementary probes.
WO 02/074929 and WO 02/103008 disclose templated methods for the synthesis of chemical compounds. The compounds are synthesised by initial contacting a transfer unit comprising an anti-codon and a reactive unit with a template under conditions allowing for hybridisation of the anti-codon to a codon of the template. Subsequently the reactive units of the transfer units are reacted. This method also suffers from the disadvantage that a large number of nucleic acid templates must be provided.
Generally, prior art methods using templates suffer from the disadvantage that molecule synthesis is dependent upon the recognition between the anti-codon and the template. Hybridisation between two oligonucleotides can occur provided there is a sufficient complementarity between them. Occasionally, the hybridisation will occur even though a complete match (i.e. complete complementarity) between the oligonucleotides is not present. The result is that sometimes a codon sequence of a template hybridises illegitimately to the anti-codon linked to a transfer unit. This impairs the subsequent de-coding of the synthesised molecules, wherefore only small libraries may be produced, and this in turn reduces the applicability of templated methods for the identification of drugable molecules.

Bi-functional complexes and methods for making and using such complexes


A pad assembly adapted to be mounted in a caliper body for a disc brake has a pad-housing pocket. The disc brake defines an axial direction, either coinciding or parallel with the direction of the rotation axis of the brake disc associable with the caliper body, a radial direction (R-R), orthogonal to the axial direction, and a tangential (T-T) or circumferential (T-T) direction, orthogonal both to the axial direction and to the radial direction (R-R). The pad-housing pocket has at least one pocket wall to form a tangential abutment for a brake pad associable with the caliper body. The pad assembly has a brake pad having a support plate, adapted to form a support for at least one associable friction material, where the support plate has a main extension along the radial (R-R) and tangential (T-T) directions. The support plate has a predefined bulk along the tangential direction (T-T), or tangential bulk, such that the support plate is adapted to be accommodated with a predetermined tangential play in the pad-housing pocket. The pad also has at least one elastic element.

Brake pads are generally fixed on pins and inserted in specific seats included in the brake caliper body. Said seats are shaped so as to leave mechanical play between seat walls and pad so as to facilitate the operations of assembling and disassembling the brake pad.
However, including said although minimum mechanical play, particularly along a direction tangential to the braking surface of an associable brake disc, or tangential direction, allows the brake pad pressed against the braking surface of the disc to move and accelerate in order to follow the tangential direction. Annoying noise phenomena, such as for example the well-known knocking noise, occur during the braking action, when the pad stops against tangential abutments of its seat.
This problem is amplified while the vehicle is traveling, particularly in the case of high-performance vehicles, when dust and dirt accumulate in the gaps left between pads and pad-housing seat walls. These dust and dirt become compacted, tending to block the brake pad in position during the braking action, which pad requires more tangential force to slide on the braking surface thus resulting in an even louder knocking noise. For example, these known drawbacks occur when, after a given distance on which the vehicle is traveling forwards, it proceeds in reverse and then brakes.
Some known solutions of noise-prevention devices have been suggested with the purpose of providing a brake caliper adapted to provide the quietest braking action possible. For example, document U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,254 shows a blade spring which is mounted between an upper portion of the brake pad and an upper opening of the caliper body, said blade spring is adapted to exert a tangential braking action on a portion of the brake pad. This solution, although partially advantageous, is very cumbersome and rather laborious to mount, because the spring extends towards a dedicated opening provided in the upper portion of the caliper body.
For example, document U.S. Pat. No. 564,961 shows a blade spring adapted to grip, with a "C"-shaped portion thereof, a side extension of the pad, in order to damp the displacements of the brake pad during the braking action. This solution forces side protections on the brake pad, like ears, to achieve the coupling with the spring. Therefore, the pad-housing pocket provided in the caliper body must contain recesses adapted to house said side protections, or ears, of the brake pad.
For example, international patent WO-2005-064193 to the same Applicant shows a type of blade spring adapted to be mounted on the brake caliper body and connected to a side portion of the pad. This solution, although partially advantageous, does not fully solve the problem, because it obliges in all cases to include lock pins fixed in eyelets of the pad so as to limit the tangential displacement of the pad itself during the braking action. Furthermore, the spring shown in this document is difficult to be assembled, disassembled and maintained because it is mounted about a protuberance made in the caliper body. A further example is shown in document WO-2005-064191.
The need is thus felt to provide a spring and a brake pad, as well as a brake caliper, capable of avoiding, or at least limiting, the onset of annoying noisy phenomena during the braking action, without requiring inconvenient and difficult assembly, disassembly and maintenance procedures.
Similarly, the need is felt to provide a brake pad capable of damping the accelerations between brake pad and caliper body which arise during the braking action.


A differential amplification circuit includes: a first transistor and a second transistor of a differential pair; first and second loads; current sources; and a resistor circuit, wherein the resistor circuit includes: a coarse adjustment part and a fine adjustment part, one of the coarse adjustment part and the fine adjustment part includes a first lateral adjustment part and a second lateral adjustment part which have the same configuration, the first lateral adjustment part and the second lateral adjustment part are connected symmetrically to both sides of a central adjustment part, and the central adjustment part has a circuit configuration symmetrical with respect to two connection nodes with the first lateral adjustment part and the second lateral adjustment part.

A differential amplification circuit is used widely in various kinds of fields and a gain-variable differential amplification circuit is used for a certain purpose. For example, the frequency characteristics of the reception circuit of the differential amplification circuit that is used in a high-speed data reception circuit change by changing the gain. Because of this, the frequency characteristics are optimized by evaluating the error rate of received data and the eye pattern of a received signal and by adjusting the gain of the differential amplification circuit based on the evaluation results.
Hitherto, the gain of the gain-variable differential amplification circuit is changed generally by changing the resistance value of the resistor within the differential amplification circuit and desirably, the gain can be adjusted in accordance with a digital code from the viewpoint of usability. Consequently, the resistor within the differential amplification circuit is turned into a variable resistor in which a plurality of adjustment units including a switch and a resistor connected in series is connected in parallel, then gain adjustment is made by adjusting the resistance value by sequentially varying the number of switches that are turned on (brought into conduction) of the plurality of adjustment units.
Desirably, the gain-variable differential amplification circuit whose gain is set in accordance with a digital code has a wide adjustment range and at the same time, the gain changes in equal steps, i.e., changes linearly at fixed dB intervals in accordance with the value of the digital code. It is known that the gain of the differential amplification circuit changes in accordance with a predetermined expression. Consequently, the resistance values of a plurality of adjustment units are set and the number of switches that are turned on of the plurality of adjustment units is controlled in accordance with the value of the digital code so that the gain changes linearly in equal steps in accordance with the expression as the number of switches that are turned on is increased. Due to this, a differential amplification circuit whose gain changes linearly in equal steps in accordance with the value of the digital code is implemented. In this case, the resistance value of the adjustment unit is determined in correspondence to an amount of change in gain by which the gain is changed in accordance with the value of the digital code, and therefore, it is possible to determine the resistance value with ease.
In the above-described differential amplification circuit, as the value of the digital code changes by one, the number of switches that are turned on changes in order and, for example, when the gain reaches its maximum, all of the switches are turned on. In other words, when the gain is changed by one step, one resistor is connected in parallel, and therefore, one of the values of the digital code changes. Because of this, the differential amplification circuit requires the same number of switches as the total number of necessary steps of the gain.
The gain-variable differential amplification circuit is required to reduce the area of the circuit and if switches in the same number as the total number of steps of the gain, i.e., if adjustment units in the same number as the total number of steps of the gain are provided, the area of the circuit increases. Because of this, it is required to implement a comparatively wide adjustment range and small adjustment intervals (step widths) with a small number of switches in the gain-variable differential amplification circuit.
In the case where the resistance value, etc., is adjusted stepwise, implementing a comparatively wide adjustment range and small adjustment intervals with a small number of switches by combining coarse adjustment and fine adjustment is known. Consequently, it is easy to adjust the resistance by combining coarse adjustment and fine adjustment also in the above-described gain-variable differential amplification circuit.

Differential amplification circuit and semiconductor integrated circuit


A tape may be mounted into a tape drive. Mounting the tape into the tape drive may include loading the tape from a storage slot. The tape drive may request a first record of the tape from a tape storage subsystem. The tape drive may determine whether the first record of the tape exists in the tape storage subsystem. The tape drive may load the first record of the tape in random access memory (RAM) of the tape drive. The first record may include one or more data entries. The tape drive may append a new data entry to the first record. The first record may be transitioned to a second record upon being appended with the new data entry. The tape may be unmounted from the tape drive.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of tape storage, and more specifically to automatically identifying the condition of a tape cartridge before full degradation of the tape cartridge.
Tape libraries store thousands of tape cartridges, which, on a day-to-day basis are mounted to tape drives, have operations performed on them by the tape drives, and are then unmounted from the tape drives. With each mount a potential footprint consisting of performance and statistical data, which is needed for a volume Statistical Analysis and Reporting System, can be accumulated and stored on the tape. However, due to Linear Tape Open (LTO) Format Specifications, it is currently impossible to store such data on tape of an LTO tape cartridge.

Automatic volume statistical and performance information tracking

International Business Machines Corporation


A method, system and program are provided for development of an adaptive computing integrated circuit and corresponding configuration information, in which the configuration information provides an operating mode to the adaptive computing integrated circuit. The exemplary system includes a scheduler, a memory, and a compiler. The scheduler is capable of scheduling a selected algorithm with a plurality of adaptive computing descriptive objects to produce a scheduled algorithm and a selected adaptive computing circuit version. The memory is utilized to store the plurality of adaptive computing descriptive objects and a plurality of adaptive computing circuit versions generated during the scheduling process. The selected adaptive computing circuit version is converted into a hardware description language, for fabrication into the adaptive computing integrated circuit. The compiler generates the configuration information, from the scheduled algorithm and the selected adaptive computing circuit version, for the performance of the algorithm by the adaptive computing integrated circuit. In the exemplary embodiments, multiple versions of configuration information may be generated, for different circuit versions, different feature sets, different operating conditions, and different operating modes.

The first related application discloses a new form or type of integrated circuitry which effectively and efficiently combines and maximizes the various advantages of processors, application specific integrated circuits ("ASICs"), and field programmable gate arrays ("FPGAs"), while minimizing potential disadvantages. The first related application illustrates a new form or type of integrated circuit ("IC"), referred to as an adaptive computing engine ("ACE"), which provides the programming flexibility of a processor, the post-fabrication flexibility of FPGAs, and the high speed and high utilization factors of an ASIC. This ACE integrated circuitry is readily reconfigurable or adaptive, in advance, in real-time or potentially slower, is capable of having corresponding, multiple modes of operation, and further minimizes power consumption while increasing performance, with particular suitability for low power applications, such as for use in hand-held and other battery-powered devices.
The adaptive computing engine ("ACE") circuit of the first related application, for adaptive or reconfigurable computing, includes a plurality of heterogeneous computational elements coupled to an interconnection network, rather than the homogeneous units of FPGAs. The plurality of heterogeneous computational elements include corresponding computational elements having fixed and differing architectures, such as fixed architectures for different functions such as memory, addition, multiplication, complex multiplication, subtraction, configuration, reconfiguration, control, input, output, and field programmability. In response to configuration information, the interconnection network is operative in real-time or potentially slower to adapt and re-adapt (configure and reconfigure) the plurality of heterogeneous computational elements for a plurality of different functional modes, including linear algorithmic operations, non-linear algorithmic operations, finite state machine operations, memory operations, and bit-level manipulations. In turn, this configuration and reconfiguration of heterogeneous computational elements, forming various computational units and adaptive matrices (or adaptive nodes), in real-time or across time, generates the selected operating mode of the ACE integrated circuit, for the performance of a wide variety of tasks.
This ACE integrated circuit, as indicated above, is controlled by a series or sequence of bits, referred to as "configuration information", which generates the configurations and reconfigurations which provide and create one or more operating modes for the ACE circuit, such as wireless communication, radio reception, personal digital assistance ("PDA"), MP3 music playing, or other desired functions.
Current system development tools, typically embodied as computer programs, do not address the particular needs and difficulties of designing ACE circuitry, and developing and scheduling configuration information to allow the ACE IC to perform a selected operating mode. As a consequence, a need remains for a suite of development tools which may design and develop ACE circuitry, adapt one or more algorithms for performance on ACE circuitry, schedule a selected algorithm for execution on selected ACE computational elements, and generate a bit file (as configuration information) for control of the ACE circuitry for the selected operating mode.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method, system and program for developing and scheduling adaptive integrated circuity and corresponding control or configuration information


A mounting system for fixation of two objects includes a single-component aerobic adhesive and a metered amount of moisture added to the adhesive prior to using the adhesive to fixate the objects. The adhesive with the moisture is hardenable while the objects are glued together.

The invention relates to a mounting system.
The mounting system as disclosed for the present invention comprise single-component adhesives which are generally used for attaching two objects to each other, wherein these adhesives are inserted between the boundary surfaces of two objects.
Single-component adhesives of this type are, in particular, polymer-based adhesives. A general problem with adhesives of this type is that they do not harden at all or only incompletely if they are inserted between two impermeable, diffusion-tight boundary surfaces and thus no longer have sufficient contact with the ambient air.
Until now, satisfactory adhesion results for single-component adhesives of this type could be achieved only if at least one of the boundary surfaces of the objects to which the adhesive is applied was permeable or open to diffusion, so that a contact between the adhesive and the ambient air was possible.
The document WO 03/03616 A1 discloses the use of such aerobic adhesives for forming a mounting system or an assembly system.
This mounting system is used to attach locally fixed objects such as towel holders, shelves, light fixtures or similar equipment articles to the wall, the ceiling or a similar surface, especially in rooms provided with tiles, marble slabs or similar wall coverings. The mounting system consists of different types of mounting elements, as well as an adhesive or joining means in the form of an aerobic adhesive.
The mounting element, which is designed to accommodate a different element holding the object, consists of a basic body provided with a recess on the back side facing the wall and a filling opening that empties into the latter by means of which the aerobic adhesive is inserted between the mounting element and the wall.
The mounting element contains at least one liquid-permeable and gas-permeable opening to permit the escape of air which is displaced when the adhesive is inserted into the recess. This opening extends from the recess to a different surface of the mounting element and accommodates the excess adhesive.
The back side of the basic body that is facing the wall is liquid-permeable and gas-permeable, at least in some regions, so that the gas which develops during the hardening of the adhesive inside the recess can escape, respectively so that volatile bonding agents can vaporize and ambient air can simultaneously reach the adhesive. The adhesive can thus harden and ensure a stable attachment, capable of carrying a load, of the mounting means on the wall.
However, this arrangement has the disadvantage of requiring an additional and by no means cheap structural expenditure to form the basic body and, in particular, also prevents a free design of the mounting means.


A method of forming a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) device includes defining a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure in an SOI substrate, the SOI substrate including a bulk layer, a buried insulator (BOX) layer over the bulk layer, and an SOI layer over the BOX layer; forming a doped region in a portion of the bulk layer corresponding to a lower location of the STI structure, the doped region extending laterally into the bulk layer beneath the BOX layer; selectively etching the doped region of the bulk layer with respect to undoped regions of the bulk layer such that the lower location of the STI structure undercuts the BOX layer; and filling the STI structure with an insulator fill material.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor device manufacturing techniques and, more particularly, to a contact isolation scheme for thin buried oxide substrate devices.
Semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) devices, such as silicon-on-insulator devices, offer several advantages over more conventional semiconductor devices. For example, SOI devices may have lower power consumption requirements than other types of devices that perform similar tasks. SOI devices may also have lower parasitic capacitances than non-SOI devices. This translates into faster switching times for the resulting circuits. In addition, the phenomenon of latch up, which is often exhibited by complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices, may be avoided when circuit devices are manufactured using SOI fabrication processes. SOI devices are also less susceptible to the adverse effects of ionizing radiation and, therefore, tend to be more reliable in applications where ionizing radiation may cause operation errors.
On the other hand, SOI devices generally suffer from floating body effects. The body of an SOI FET stores electrical charge as a function of the history of the device, thus changing the body voltage accordingly and becoming a "floating" body. As such, an SOI FET has threshold voltages which are difficult to anticipate and control, and which vary in time. The body charge storage effects result in dynamic sub-threshold voltage (sub-Vt) leakage and threshold voltage (Vt) mismatch among geometrically identical adjacent devices. Floating body effects in an SOI field effect transistor are particularly a concern in static random access memory (SRAM) cells, where Vt matching is extremely important as operating voltages continue to be scaled down.
An evolution beyond the standard FET (which has a single top gate that controls the FET channel) is the double-gated FET, in which the channel is confined between a top and a bottom gate. Positioning the channel between a top gate and a bottom gate allows for control of the channel by the two gates from both sides of the channel, reducing short channel effects. Further, a double-gated FET may exhibit higher transconductance and reduced parasitic capacitance as compared to a single-gated FET. The presence of the back gate allows for enhanced on-chip power management and device tuning. Multiple threshold voltage (Vt) devices may also be achieved on a single IC chip by applying different back biases at the back gates of various devices.
An SOI substrate includes a bottom substrate underneath a buried oxide (BOX) layer, with a top layer of a semiconductor material located over the BOX. As indicated above, the presence of the BOX in an SOI device may produce a relatively fast FET device by reducing the capacitance between the source/drain regions of the FET devices on the top semiconductor layer and the bottom substrate. The channel regions of the FET devices, which are located between the source/drain regions, may be decoupled from the bottom substrate by the BOX, allowing movement of the channel region potential with respect to the bottom substrate. For example, when the channel region potential floats positive, the threshold voltage of the FET drops, thereby increasing the FET device drive current. It is also easier to intentionally modulate Vt with a thinner BOX. Because the BOX is thinner, less voltage on the back gate is needed to change Vt by a given amount relative to the case where the BOX is thicker. This capability is particularly desirable for mobile applications where the power supply may be limited to low voltages.
A difficulty encountered with SOI devices is determining an appropriate BOX thickness. The capacitance between the source/drain regions and the bottom substrate increases as the thickness of the BOX layer is decreased, which may increase the circuit loading. However, the amount of channel region potential movement increases with increasing thickness of the BOX layer due to the reduced capacitance coupling to the substrate, which may result in floating channel regions. A floating channel region may have the effect of producing a fluctuating FET threshold voltage, and therefore an unpredictable device. Accordingly, UTBB (ultrathin body and BOX) devices may have a relatively thin BOX layer, preventing floating channel regions in a UTBB SOI device. In addition, UTBB devices are also is better for Vt modulation in mobile chip applications.

Contact isolation scheme for thin buried oxide substrate devices


The present invention provides a tire rubber composition which improves in fuel economy, processability, adhesion, and rubber strength in a balanced manner, and a pneumatic tire. The tire rubber composition includes: a rubber component; a plasticizer (a); and at least one of a resin and a plasticizer (b), the resin being at least one selected from the group consisting of aromatic petroleum resins, terpenic resins, and rosin resins. The plasticizer (a) has a glass transition point of −50° C. or lower. The resin and the plasticizer (b) each have a glass transition point of −40° C. to 20° C. The tire rubber composition includes, for each 100 parts by mass of the rubber component, 1 to 30 parts by mass of the plasticizer (a) and 1 to 30 parts by mass in total of the at least one of the resin and the plasticizer (b).

Recent concern for environmental issues such as global warming has led to an increasing social demand for lower fuel consumption. In order to respond to the demand for lower fuel consumption automobiles, development of fuel efficient tires with reduced rolling resistance is being required. Known as methods for reducing the rolling resistance of tires in terms of materials are, for example, a technique of replacing carbon black with silica, a technique of reducing the amount of filler which causes energy loss, and a technique of using a modified rubber having a functional group which is highly reactive with silica.
Although the above techniques can improve the performance in terms of rolling resistance, the reduction in the amount of filler and the use of the modified rubber each tend to cause reduction in rubber strength. Further, if the modified rubber is used, it needs to be kneaded enough to sufficiently react with silica. As a result, the surface of the rubber composition is made rough so that the adhesive force (adhesion) is reduced, which results in a decrease in the building processability of tires.
In order to improve the adhesion and the rubber strength, the use of aliphatic petroleum resin or aromatic petroleum resin has been studied; however, these uses disadvantageously deteriorate the fuel economy. Patent Document 1 teaches a method of improving the fuel economy and braking performance by use of natural rubber, white filler, a specific resin, and the like. This document, however, does not discuss satisfying the fuel economy, processability, adhesion, and rubber strength simultaneously.    Patent Document 1: JP 2009-7454 A

Tire rubber composition and pneumatic tire


A helical thread insert having a removable tang attached to the front end of the insert, a retention device, and a removal notch located along the rear portion of the insert. The removable tang is oriented radially inward and includes a xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d shaped notch oriented along a bottom of a thread to detach the tang at a specified point. The retention device is located at a rear end of the thread insert and prevents counterclockwise, or removal rotation of the insert by engaging female threads of the bore in which the helical thread insert is disposed. The removal notch is formed along an inner surface of the insert proximal to the retention device to allow a tool to actuate the retention device inward, generally away from the female threads of a parent material, to allow relatively free counterclockwise rotation and removal of the thread insert.

The present invention relates to a thread insert. More specifically, the present invention relates to a helical thread insert having a removable tang for installation, a removal notch formed in the last thread of the insert and a retention device.
Helical thread inserts are used in many industries to provide female threads in a threaded bore located in a parent material having a relatively low hardness. The helical thread inserts are installed using a special tool that grasps a removable tang located at the leading end of the helical thread insert and guides the insert into the threaded bore in the parent material. The tang is then removed to provide a threaded bore having full thread engagement and female threads with a greater hardness than the female threads formed in the original threaded bore. In the event that the helical thread inserts become worn or damaged, removal of the thread insert may be required.
In recognition of the need to remove helical thread inserts several devices have been developed. Some helical thread inserts include a pair of diametrically opposed notches formed in the last thread of the insert. The notches allow a flathead screwdriver or other tool to apply a counterclockwise torque to guide the insert out of the original threaded bore. However, the use of a flathead screwdriver or other tool may apply forces that drive the insert back into the threaded bore or expand the last thread of the insert radially outward. If the tool applies a force on the insert that pushes the insert back into the original threaded bore, removal of the thread insert is made more difficult because the desired direction of movement of the insert, out of the hole, is opposite of the force that is applied on the insert. Additionally, if the tool causes expansion of the last thread of the insert, the end of the thread may dig into the parent material causing removal of the thread insert to be more difficult and possibly damaging the parent material. In recognition, thread inserts have been developed that have chamfered and radiused edges formed around the end of the last thread to prevent the thread from digging into the parent material.
However, one concern associated with helical thread inserts is retention capability, the ability of the insert to remain in the threaded bore. The use of chamfered or radiused ends reduces the ability of the end of the thread insert to grasp the parent material to prevent counterclockwise movement, leading to inadvertent removal of the insert. Additionally, the increasing popularity of stainless steel helical thread inserts in combination with stainless steel threaded fasteners may lead to galling. If galling occurs, the forces applied to the threaded fastener are directly transferred to the helical thread insert, thus increasing the likelihood that the helical thread insert will not remain in the threaded bore.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a helical thread insert having a tang for installation, a square end providing increased retention, and a removal notch. The tang is attached to a front end of the helical thread insert to provide a means of installing the insert. The square end prevents counterclockwise rotation of the insert, whereby counterclockwise rotation may lead to inadvertent removal of the insert. The removal notch provides a means of selectively removing the insert without engaging the retention device.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Tanged screw thread inserts with improved removability


A method and an apparatus for controlling the speed of a motor vehicle in particular during a hill ascent are described. In a PID controller acting upon the brake system of the motor vehicle the change of the vehicle inclination is fed into the I branch of the controller, thereby providing an adaptive speed control.

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling speed. More precisely, the invention relates to speed control of a motor vehicle during a hill descent.
Motor vehicles negotiating hill descents have to be braked during the descent in accordance with the speed to be observed and the steepness of the downhill gradient. Within certain limits it is mostly possible, by selecting a suitable gear speed, to utilize the braking torque of the drive motor to reduce the vehicle speed during a hill descent.
By means of a drive motor operating in overrunning mode, however, the variation of the speed during a descent may be achieved only imprecisely and to a slight extent. In order for example to slightly increase the descent speed, the driver may accelerate a little and drive the engine in part-load operation. However, this entails an unnecessary consumption of fuel as well as an unavoidable acoustic environmental pollution by the engine. In terms of engine wear too, it is not ideal to negotiate longer hill descents in part-load operation. If, conversely, the descent speed is to be slightly reduced, then the driver will actuate the service brake for this purpose.
Longer hill descents with an actuated service brake are for example customary in off-road vehicles that travel down steep inclines. If the steepness of the route changes, then the driver is requested to correct his brake actuation accordingly.
Devices, which on a downhill run keep the vehicle at a constant speed preset by the driver through an automatic actuation of the brakes, are already in use. Such control devices, which influence a vehicle service brake in a way that enables a hill descent at a constant speed, are known by the name of HDC (hill descent control) devices. HDC devices frequently make use of components that are already fitted as standard in the motor vehicle within the framework of for example antilock braking systems (ABS) or traction control systems (ASR). Such components include control units, wheel rotational speed sensors, electrically driven pumps and clutches, magnetic control valves, diverse sensors as well as further units and devices.
In many HDC devices, only the difference between a setpoint speed and an actual speed is determined, from which any required brake actuation is then derived. Other HDC devices determine a value for the road inclination and from this determine an actuating signal for the service brake. From WO 01/14185 A1 it is known for example to compensate the influence of the downhill road gradient in travelling direction upon the vehicle speed independently of "conventional" speed control in that the brake pressure determined by the speed control is increased by a compensating brake pressure, the amount of which is determined from the road inclination. The service brake is then acted upon by the sum of these two brake pressure components.
It has however been shown that such systems do not cope well with road sections of varying inclination. This manifests itself for example in control variations, unexpectedly strong exertions of influence on the service brake or a non-uniform vehicle speed in the transition between sections of differing inclination. Occasionally, it is also observed that the vehicle speed actually achieved by known HDC devices is not fully independent of the degree of the downhill gradient.
The underlying object of the invention is therefore to improve the control response and the operational reliability of the described speed control for motor vehicles.

Method and device for speed regulation when travelling on an incline


A solid-state composite electrode includes active electrode particles, ionically conductive particles, and electrically conductive particles. Each of the ionically conductive particles is at least partially coated with an isolation material that inhibits inter-diffusion of the ionically conductive particles with the active electrode particles. A battery cell includes a first current collector, a solid electrolyte layer, a first solid-state composite electrode having ionically conductive particles coated with an isolation material and positioned between the first current collector and the solid electrolyte layer, a second current collector, and a second electrode positioned between the solid electrolyte layer and the second current collector. A method of forming a solid-state composite electrode includes mixing together active electrode particles and electrically conductive particles with ionically conductive particles that are each at least partially coated with an isolation material. The mixture is formed into a film via tape-casting, and sintered at a temperature greater than 600° C.

Solid-state batteries have been the subject of increasing amounts of research due to the promise of improved reliability, durability, safety, energy density, and cycling performance Many performance factors of solid-state batteries, however, are based on characteristics of the interfaces between different materials within the battery. High interfacial impedance between a solid-state electrolyte and a solid-state active material, for example, leads to decreased power capability during discharge. High interfacial impedance can result from many different factors, such as poor contact between materials, reactions between battery materials and other materials or the surrounding environment, and inter-diffusion of different battery materials.
FIG. 1 depicts a plan schematic of a conventional solid state composite electrode 10. The electrode 10 includes particles of active material 12, particles of ionically conductive material 14, and particles of electronically conductive material 16. The materials 12-16 have been assembled into composite via a sintering process so that the active material particles 12 are held in close contact with the ionically conductive particles 14. For example, an active material particle 12′ is held in close contact with an ionically conductive material particle 14′.
FIG. 2 depicts a detail schematic of an interface between the active material particle 12′ and the ionically conductive material particle 14′ from FIG. 1. While sintering generally results in good contact between the active material particle 12′ and the ionically conductive particle 14′, high temperatures associated with the sintering process of 600° C.-900° C. or more can result in an inter-diffusion region 20 between the particles 12′ and 14′ (note: inter-diffusion region 20 is not visible in FIG. 1). As used herein, "inter-diffusion" means an at least partial physical mixing of materials and/or a chemical reaction between the materials. The inter-diffusion region 20 can decrease the ionic conductivity between the active material particle 12′ and the ionically conductive particle 14′ and can thus result in an increased interfacial impedance between the active electrode material 12 and the ionically conductive material 14 (FIG. 1), and a decrease in the discharge power capability of cells that include the electrode 10.
Therefore, a solid-state electrode with low interfacial impedance between active electrode material and electrolyte material would be beneficial. A solid state electrode with materials that have a limited amount or no inter-diffusion would also be beneficial.

Solid composite electrode with coated materials


A new variety of carnation plant producing attractive yellow picotee purple flowers.

Classification: The present invention relates to a new Hybrid Dianthus caryophyllus plant.
Variety denomination: The new plant has the varietal denomination xe2x80x98CFPC SARIxe2x80x99.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of carnation plant which was originated by me by crossing as the female parent the variety known as xe2x80x98CFPC LACYxe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,884) and as the male parent an undistributed and unpatented seedling identified as xe2x80x98970111xe2x80x99. The varietal denomination of the new variety is xe2x80x98CFPC SARIxe2x80x99.
Among the novel characteristics possessed by the new variety which distinguish it from other varieties of which of I am aware, are its attractive yellow picotee purple flowers which retain color without fading. When grown in a greenhouse in Salinas, Calif., in 4xc2xd inch plastic pots, plants are about 8xc2xd inches tall and about 5 inches in diameter. Flower diameter averages about 2 inches with a crown of about xc2xe inch (average). Foliage is about 3 inches long and about xc2xc inch wide at its widest point.
Asexual reproduction by propagation by cuttings of the new variety as performed in Salinas, Calif., shows that the foregoing and other distinguishing characteristics come true to form and are established and transmitted through succeeding propagation.
The new variety differs from its parents in flowers that possess a unique color pattern of light purple picotee on yellow background. The parents do have this flower coloration.

Hybrid carnation plant named xe2x80x98CFPC SARIxe2x80x99