An oxygen generating apparatus that includes a container containing potassium super oxide, an inhale valve, and an inhale valve filter between the potassium super oxide and the inhale valve. The filter is configured to prevent particles having a diameter of 10 μm from passing through the filter, and to neutralize KOH and KO2 particles having a diameter of less than 10 μm that contact the filter into a food grade compound.

Emergency breathing apparatuses that provide oxygen to a user are known. Some provide oxygen directly, such as those that employ compressed or liquid oxygen. Others provide oxygen through a chemical reaction.
Conventional chemical oxygen generators may contain alkali metal chlorate candles, which are burned to produce oxygen. Other conventional chemical oxygen generators may contain potassium super oxide, which reacts with carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. Conventional chemical oxygen generators are generally used by miners, firefighters, military personal, and the like to provide emergency oxygen when needed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,099 to Abramov et al. discloses a closed-circuit breathing system that includes a mask and a canister containing, for example, KO2. The canister contains one or more working compounds formed of a peroxide and/or superoxide of one or more metals of the alkali and alkaline-earth metal groups, such as KO2 and CaO2, and a moisture releasing material, such as wetted activated charcoal, is used to replenish the oxygen and absorb the carbon dioxide in exhaled air. The canister includes an inlet port for receiving exhaled air, and an outlet port for providing breathable air for inhalation. The patent describes that the canister can be used in a closed or semi-closed circuit breathing system worn by a user such as a fireman, miner etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,512 to Mausteller et al. discloses an emergency breathing apparatus that includes a mask having a breathing opening, directly in front of the outer end of which there is a chemical cartridge that is secured to the mask. The cartridge has an exhalation passage extending through it from front to back, with its rear end registering with the breathing opening. A check valve in the inhalation passage allows air flow only into the mask. In the exhalation passage there is a carbon dioxide removing and oxygen generating chemical. A breathing bag is supported by the cartridge and communicates with the front end of the exhalation passage. The mask is provided with an inhalation check valve allowing air being inhaled from the bag to bypass the chemical.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,558 to Haertle et al. discloses a chemical cartridge for respirators, the cartridge containing a chemical, e.g., potassium hyperoxide, which when acted upon by carbon dioxide and moisture, produces oxygen from a stream of inhaled air. Two discharge nozzles are provided that project into the chemical and out of which the regenerated exhaled air flows. The incoming flow occurs over a large area and the outflow occurs over a small area with the peripheral surfaces of the discharge nozzles being spaced substantially equidistant from an inlet surface of the chemical, thereby ensuring optimum use of the chemical for oxygen production purposes because a user's exhaled air is caused to flow completely through the entire space occupied by the chemical.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,524 to Li et al. discloses an emergency breathing apparatus that includes a canister containing layers of KO2 particles separated by parallel screen assemblies, the upper two screen assemblies being connected by a vertical bypass screen near the canister inlet. The layered KO2 bed is effective to remove CO2 from exhaled breath, and generate oxygen for recharging the air prior to inhalation. The canister inlet is connected by a flexible hose to the exhalation side of a breather mouthpiece, the inhalation side of the mouthpiece being connected to the upper end of the inhalation chimney. Communication between the canister outlet and the lower end of the inhalation chimney is provided by a breather bag, fitted with a set of baffles to define a tortuous flow path for cooling the processed air. A collector mounted at the canister outlet prevents liquid KO2 (which forms KOH) from entering the breather bag. To protect the user and confine the heat within the canister, the canister is insulated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,396 to Finley discloses a light-weight, portable oxygen generator containing an alkali metal chlorate candle. The generator includes a generally tubular housing, preferably formed of extruded aluminum or other heat-conducting metal, and preferably includes longitudinally-extending ribs which serve to dissipate heat generated inside of the housing. The generator also includes a dispensing valve through which oxygen passes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,664 to Palmer discloses a light-weight, personal, portable oxygen dispenser that includes a cylindrical body. The cylindrical body is a light-weight material, such as extrudable aluminum, with a fluted or ridged exterior configuration to minimize heat conductivity to the fingers of someone holding the dispenser while it is operating.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,364 to Evans discloses a training breathing apparatus that includes a disposable canister filled with a reagent that creates heat by reacting with the moisture in exhaled breath.
Despite these various designs, conventional portable oxygen generators pose substantial drawbacks that either limit their use, or limit their use by a wide range of individuals that otherwise could benefit from their use. For example, professionals that are used to using such portable oxygen generators are constrained by the weight, material quality, construction, or heat generation of such devices. Likewise, these issues of weight, quality, construction, and heat generation also tend to prohibit such oxygen generators from being used by non-professionals, such as athletes or the like. Moreover, many of the conventional oxygen generators cannot be transported on commercial aircraft due to potential safety problems and leakage from cabin air pressure. The present disclosure thus seeks to overcome these disadvantages of the prior art, and provide improved portable oxygen generators.
For example, conventional potassium super oxide oxygen generators are generally bulky and must be worn in a harness. Furthermore, the chamber in which the active ingredient is held is usually made from heavy, high grade stainless steel. For example, conventional potassium super oxide oxygen generators can weigh between 4.5 to 7.5 kg.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,513,251 discloses a potassium super oxide oxygen apparatuses in which the oxygen reaction is slowed down to decrease heat generation, thereby allowing the apparatus to be hand-held. Such hand-held generators may be used by, for example, people escaping fires, skiers, mountain climbers, asthmatics, people with emphysema, people suffering from altitude sickness, and athletes. Such hand-held generators may be also used as backup oxygen generators for Emergency Medical Service (EMS) squads, fire departments, miners, and the like, should their regular emergency oxygen become depleted.

Hand-held potassium super oxide oxygen generating apparatus


A tilt correction apparatus includes a manipulation unit configured to designate a level of an effect of first tilt correction of an imaging apparatus having an optical axis as a rotary axis and a level of an effect of second tilt correction of the imaging apparatus having an axis orthogonal to the optical axis as a rotary axis, an electronic correction unit configured to execute at least one of the first tilt correction and the second tilt correction by moving an image clipping range set within an imaging screen, and a calculation unit configured to vary a ratio of a first tilt-correctable range and a ratio of a second tilt-correctable range from the electronic correction unit according to the level of the effect of the first tilt correction and the level of the effect of the second tilt correction.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for correcting the image blur or tilt of an image due to shaking.
Description of the Related Art
An image-blur correction apparatus mounted on an imaging apparatus suppresses image blur of an image on an image plane, for example, by moving a lens or an imaging device on a plane perpendicular to an optical axis according to an amount of camera shake. Alternatively, it is possible to suppress image blur caused by roll rotation by rotating the imaging device around an optical axis. Also, there is a tilt correction apparatus for detecting a tilt angle of an apparatus with high precision by detecting the direction of gravity using an acceleration meter or the like and automatically correcting tilt of the imaging apparatus for a horizontal plane perpendicular to the direction of gravity. In the capturing of a moving image, the influence of shake or tilt is reduced by changing a clipping position of each photographing frame output by the imaging device through electronic correction. The imaging apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H7-95466 corrects tilt around the optical axis for the horizontal plane perpendicular to the direction of gravity of the imaging device by detecting tilt of the imaging apparatus and automatically correcting the tilt in a captured image.
Also, there area charge coupled device (CCD) sensor and a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) of low power consumption as the imaging device, and the CCD and the CMOS are different in terms of an exposure scheme during photographing. While exposure timings and exposure periods of all images of the imaging device are the same when one image is captured in the CCD sensor, a difference between exposure periods occurs in the CMOS sensor because the opening/closing timing of a shutter is different for every line constituting the imaging device. In a driving scheme of the CMOS sensor called the rolling shutter scheme, an object image moves for every line of the imaging device, for example, due to movement of an object during exposure or camera shake by a photographer grasping an imaging apparatus during exposure. Thus, a phenomenon in which distortion is caused in a captured image occurs and is referred to as a "rolling shutter problem" or a "focal plane phenomenon." The rolling shutter distortion is known to be more remarkable in moving-image capturing in which no mechanical shutter is used than in still-image capturing in which a mechanical shutter is used.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-186481, technology for correcting distortion caused by camera shake by the photographer in relation to correction of rolling shutter distortion is disclosed. An apparatus of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-186481 changes a read position for every line of the imaging device to correct the camera shake of the horizontal direction and changes a position of a read line in the vertical direction to correct the camera shake in the vertical direction.
In the case of the imaging apparatus which performs shake correction, tilt correction, or the rolling shutter distortion correction, it is necessary to increase each correction range to increase each correction effect if the amplitude of the shake increases due to the transfer of vibration to the imaging apparatus according to the shake of the body of the user, such as when photographing is performed while walking.
There are optical correction and electronic correction as types of image-blur correction. The optical correction is optical-axis shift correction for moving a part of a lens of an imaging optical system or an imaging device in a shift direction, correction of rotationally driving a barrel in which the lens and the imaging device are integrated on the basis of a shake angle, or the like. In the case of mechanical correction, it is necessary to perform correction in a translation direction (a vertical direction and a horizontal direction of an image) and correction of a roll direction within a limited movable range. On the other hand, in the electronic correction, the correction is performed through image processing by changing a clipping position of each photographing frame. In this case, it is possible to reduce a clipping range for an original image and enlarge a correction range by allocating a surplus of an image to correction ranges of translation, roll, and rolling shutter distortion. However, when an angle of view of clipping of the image is excessively reduced, there is a possibility of image deterioration occurring due to degradation of resolution or an event of reduction of an angle of view of photographing after clipping.

Image-blur correction apparatus, tilt correction apparatus, method of controlling image-blur correction apparatus, and method of controlling tilt correction apparatus


A call control system to route a voice over internet protocol call between a wireless communication device and a destination device comprises a communication interface and a processing system, wherein the destination device is located in a geographic area served by a communication network. The communication interface is configured to receive an authorization response from an authorization system located in a home wireless network of the wireless communication device, wherein the authorization response comprises a destination identifier of the destination device and a location identifier of the wireless communication device. The processing system is configured to process the destination identifier and the location identifier to determine if the wireless communication device is located in the geographic area, and if so, the processing system is configured to direct the communication interface to transfer the call over a source port associated with the geographic area served by the communication network.

Conventional telecommunication networks typically include many calling areas to cover a particular geographic area, with communication trunks used to transfer calls between different calling areas. These communication trunks and calling areas can be operated by different companies, or exchange carriers, with some communication trunks used to interconnect different calling areas, often over long distances.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology allows phone calls to be routed over packet networks, such as the Internet, instead of over the calling areas and trunks of conventional telecommunication networks. Wireless communication devices operating in wireless communication networks are also able to place calls using VoIP technology. For example, some calls initiated by wireless communication devices may use VoIP to connect to other wireless communication devices, or to non-wireless telecommunication devices, such as conventional telephones communicating over the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
Typically, a wireless call into the PSTN uses commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) trunks for local calls and feature group D (FG-D) trunks for long distance calls. However, when a call from a wireless communication device traverses a packet network, some information about the call may be lost during transmission. As a result, routing the call becomes more difficult and can lead to inefficient or undesirable routing, especially when interacting with conventional circuit-switched communication trunks and calling areas.
Overview
A call control system to route a voice over internet protocol call between a wireless communication device and a destination communication device comprises a communication interface and a processing system, wherein the destination communication device is located in a geographic area served by a communication network. The communication interface is configured to receive an authorization response from an authorization system located in a home wireless network of the wireless communication device, wherein the authorization response comprises a destination identifier of the destination communication device and a location identifier of the wireless communication device. The processing system is configured to process the destination identifier and the location identifier to determine if the wireless communication device is located in the geographic area served by the communication network. If the wireless communication device is located in the geographic area served by the communication network, the processing system is configured to direct the communication interface to transfer the call over a source port associated with the geographic area served by the communication network.
A method of operating a call control system to route a voice over internet protocol call between a wireless communication device and a destination communication device is disclosed, wherein the destination communication device is located in a geographic area served by a communication network. The method comprises receiving an authorization response from an authorization system located in a home wireless network of the wireless communication device, wherein the authorization response comprises a destination identifier of the destination communication device and a location identifier of the wireless communication device, processing the destination identifier and the location identifier to determine if the wireless communication device is located in the geographic area served by the communication network, and if the wireless communication device is located in the geographic area served by the communication network, transferring the call over a source port associated with the geographic area served by the communication network.

Call transfer determination based on a geographic area served by a communication network


The object is to suppress deterioration in electrical characteristics in a semiconductor device comprising a transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer. In a transistor in which a channel layer is formed using an oxide semiconductor, a p-type silicon layer is provided in contact with a surface of the oxide semiconductor layer. Further, the p-type silicon layer is provided in contact with at least a region of the oxide semiconductor layer, in which a channel is formed, and a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer are provided in contact with regions of the oxide semiconductor layer, over which the p-type silicon layer is not provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transistor that uses an oxide semiconductor layer, a semiconductor device including the transistor, and a manufacturing method of the transistor and the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various kinds of metal oxides, which are used for a wide range of applications. Indium oxide is a well-known material and used as a material of a transparent electrode which is needed in a liquid crystal display or the like.
Some metal oxides exhibit semiconductor characteristics. In general, metal oxides serve as insulators; however, it is known that metal oxides can serve as semiconductors depending on the combination of elements included in the metal oxides.
For example, tungsten oxide, tin oxide, indium oxide, zinc oxide, and the like can be given as metal oxides exhibiting semiconductor characteristics, and thin film transistors in which a channel formation region is formed using such the metal oxides are already known (Patent Documents 1 to 4, Non-Patent Document 1).
As the metal oxides, not only single-component oxides but also multi-component oxides are known. For example, InGaO3(ZnO)m (m: natural number) having a homologous series is known as a multi-component oxide semiconductor including In, Ga, and Zn (Non-Patent Documents 2 to 4).
Further, it is proved that an oxide semiconductor formed using an In—Ga—Zn based oxide as described above can be used for a channel layer of a thin film transistor (also referred to as a TFT) (Patent Document 5, Non-Patent Documents 5 and 6).
However, semiconductor characteristics are likely to vary because of damage to the oxide semiconductor due to an etchant or plasma or contamination of an element such as hydrogen to the oxide semiconductor in an element manufacturing process. Accordingly, problems of variation and deterioration in electrical characteristics of the element are caused.
[Reference]
[Patent Document]
    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Published Patent Application No. S60-198861    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Published Patent Application No. H8-264794    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Translation of PCT International Application No. H11-505377    [Patent Document 4] Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2000-150900    [Patent Document 5] Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2004-103957[Non-Patent Document]    [Non-Patent Document 1] M. W. Prins, K. O. Grosse-Holz, G. Muller, J. F. M. Cillessen, J. B. Giesbers, R. P. Weening, and R. M. Wolf, "A ferroelectric transparent thin-film transistor" Appl. Phys. Lett., 17 Jun. 1996, Vol. 68 p. 3650-3652    [Non-Patent Document 2] M. Nakamura, N. Kimizuka, and T. Mohri, "The Phase Relations in the In2O3—Ga2ZnO4—ZnO System at 1350° C.", J. Solid State Chem., 1991, Vol. 93, p. 298-315    [Non-Patent Document 3] N. Kimizuka, M. Isobe, and M. Nakamura, "Syntheses and Single-Crystal Data of Homologous Compounds, In2O3(ZnO)m (m=3, 4, and 5), InGaO3(ZnO)3, and Ga2O3(ZnO)m (m=7, 8, 9, and 16) in the In2O3—ZnGa2O4—ZnO System", J. Solid State Chem., 1995, Vol. 116, p. 170-178    [Non-Patent Document 4] M. Nakamura, N. Kimizuka, T. Mohri, and M. Isobe, "Syntheses and crystal structures of new homologous compound, indium iron zinc oxides (InFeO3(ZnO)m (m: natural number) and related compounds", KOTAI BUTSURI (SOLID STATE PHYSICS), 1993, Vol. 28, No. 5, p. 317-327    [Non-Patent Document 5] K. Nomura, H. Ohta, K. Ueda, T. Kamiya, M. Hirano, and H. Hosono, "Thin-film transistor fabricated in single-crystalline transparent oxide semiconductor", SCIENCE, 2003, Vol. 300, p. 1269-1272    [Non-Patent Document 6] K. Nomura, H. Ohta, A. Takagi, T. Kamiya, M. Hirano, and H. Hosono, "Room-temperature fabrication of transparent flexible thin-film transistors using amorphous oxide semiconductors", NATURE, 2004, Vol. 432, p. 488-492

Semiconductor device including a transistor, and manufacturing method of the semiconductor device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A user enters control settings into a content receiver whereby the control settings correspond to a particular viewer or a particular time-of-day. The content receiver receives a media signal and metadata that includes censorship level information. The content receiver uses the control settings to identify an applicable censorship level and uses the metadata to de-scramble the media signal to a censorship level corresponding to the identified applicable censorship level. The content receiver provides the de-scrambled media signal to a viewer's display.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a system and method for selectively de-scrambling media signals. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for using metadata to de-scramble a media signal in order to decrease the media signal's censorship level corresponding to control settings.
2. Description of the Related Art
The public has debated the issue of content censorship for many years. The debate typically challenges first amendment rights (e.g. free speech) against a moral obligation as to what is considered "appropriate" for various age groups. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) developed a rating system for motion pictures which provides parental guidance as well as viewing audience regulation. For example, a parent may decide to allow their child to attend a "G" rated movie, but not allow their child to attend a "PG" rated movie. In another example, a movie theater is regulated to not admit a person under the age of 17 into an "R" rated movie unless accompanied by an adult. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recently developed a similar rating system for television programs. The television rating system has six ratings which range from TV-Y (suitable for everyone) to TV-MA (suitable for mature audiences).
Content providers in the television industry are starting to accept the television rating system and are providing content with particular ratings. Content providers, however, typically provide content type based upon the content provider's viewing audience. For example, a content provider understands that young children are watching television during morning hours and the content providers provide some content in the morning suitable for children (i.e. a children's program). This approach provides a certain level of censorship in that it is unlikely that a television station shows a program that is rated "TV-MA" in the morning. A challenge found, however, is for content providers to identify and provide content with an acceptable censorship level during times when the content provider's viewing audience encompasses a wider range of viewers, such as in the afternoon or evening.
In addition, some viewers may wish to view uncensored content during the day. For example, a viewer may not have children and may wish to view uncensored content at any time. A challenge found, however, is that content providers censor content at a higher level during the day due to the content provider's daytime viewing audience.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for providing a viewer the ability to adjust a content's censorship level based upon the viewer's preferences.

International Business Machines Corporation


An angle adjusting structure of a ratchet wrench includes a shank, a driving head, a located member, a spring and a detent member. The shank includes a pivot socket and a limiting portion. The pivot socket has a first pivoting portion and a bottom surface, the limiting portion is adjoined to the pivot socket and includes a limiting hole. The driving head includes a second pivoting portion which is pivotally connected to the first pivoting portion and has a plurality of meshing teeth. The located member is slidably located on the bottom surface. The located member includes a plurality of engagement teeth and a sliding rail, the engagement teeth is for meshing the meshing teeth, the sliding rail is correspondingly located on an outside of the limiting hole. The spring is located in the limiting hole. The detent member is connected to the spring and the sliding rail.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a ratchet wrench. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an angle adjusting structure of a ratchet wrench.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, the non power driven hand tools are gradually replaced by the power driven hand tools for saving time and effort. Despite that, the non power driven hand tools are still the indispensable tools for the great majority of people from the standpoint about convenience and lightness.
A wrench or spanner is a tool used to provide grip and mechanical advantage in applying torque to turn threaded fasteners, such as nuts and bolts. Ratchet wrench is one kind of the wrench for gripping the nuts and bolts, More particularly, the Ratchet wrench has a ratcheting mechanism which attaches to a socket, which in turn fits on the bolts and nuts.
Mostly, the ratchet wrench ratchet mechanism is usually integrated design with a metal handle, awhile the manufacturing cost can be reduced, it is difficult to force threaded fasteners in the limited position or angle.

Angle adjusting structure of ratchet wrench


A semi-automatic slider assembly having a slider body, a lock pin, and a pull tab. When the pull tab is in a first orientation, the lock pin engages with elements of the tape and the slider assembly is in a locked configuration that prevents the slider assembly from moving along the tape. When the pull tab is in a second orientation, the lock pin does not engage with the elements of the tape and the slider assembly is in an unlocked configuration so that the assembly is permitted to move along the tape. The slider body has a recess for receiving a portion of the lock pin, and the lock pin has an opening that reduces interference when the pull tab is in the second orientation.

A slider typically consists of a slider body and a pull tab. Many sliders, including the slider bodies, are made of metal. As is known, a slider cooperates with elements located on opposite sides of a tape to open and close a zipper. When the slider body is moved by pulling the pull tab, a generally Y-shaped channel located between a top wing and a bottom wing of the slider body meshes together rows of opposing elements of the tape. When slider body is moved in the opposite direction, the generally Y-shaped channel separates the rows of opposing elements.
To prevent the zipper from inadvertently opening or closing, some sliders include a locking feature. When the pull tab is in a particular orientation (for example, lowered so that it is approximately parallel with the tape), the lock engages the elements of the tape to prevent the slider from moving along the tape. When the pull tab is not in this particular orientation (for example, raised so that it is approximately perpendicular to the tape), the lock does not engage the elements of the tape and the slider is permitted to move along the tape. Sliders having this type of locking feature are sometimes referred to as "semi-automatic" sliders.


A disk for storing liquid samples containing cells and for use in counting and observing the cells through an optical microscope includes an upper member formed of a transparent material and having a plurality of liquid inlets arranged radially and adapted to introduce the corresponding liquid samples therethrough, and a plurality of air vents paired with the corresponding liquid inlets; an intermediate member having a plurality of chambers arranged radially and adapted to store the corresponding liquid samples therein, each chamber corresponding to each pair of the liquid inlet and the air vent and communicating with the liquid inlet and with the air vent; and a lower member formed of a transparent material and backing the intermediate member. The optical microscope assumes the form of an incident-light microscope.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk for storing liquid samples and used to count and observe cells in the liquid samples, as well as to a counting observation apparatus for counting and observing cells through an optical microscope by use of the disk. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disk for storing liquid samples used to count and observe cells in the liquid samples which can be readily fabricated at low cost, as well as to a counting observation apparatus for counting and observing cells through an optical microscope by use of the disk which can be fabricated in a reduced size and at low cost.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many conventional disks for storing liquid samples and used to count and observe cells in the liquid samples are configured such that a cover member covers, from above, a lower structure in which a plurality of accommodation recesses for storing respective liquid samples are arranged radially (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 8-082590 and Japanese Patent No. 2731423). In this case, the lower structure and the cover member are fabricated from transparent glass or resin material. While the disk is rotated intermittently, counting and observing cells in the liquid samples stored in the accommodation recesses are performed sample by sample through a transmission microscope.
The lower structure having the plurality of liquid-sample accommodation recesses is fabricated from transparent glass or resin material by means of a forming process. Thus, finishing the liquid-sample accommodation recesses at dimensionally high accuracy is not easy. Since an illumination light source and an optical system oppose each other with a liquid sample located therebetween, the counting observation apparatus using the transmission microscope has a drawback that its size becomes large.
In order to avoid an increase in the size of a counting observation apparatus, there have been proposed counting observation apparatus for counting and observing cells by use of an incident-light microscope in which an illumination light source and an optical system are disposed on the same side in relation to a liquid sample, while a reflector is disposed behind the liquid sample (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3434064 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2004-348104). However, the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2004-348104 uses a nonrotatable, rectangular-parallelepiped-shaped container for storing a liquid sample, and the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3434064 does not mention a container for storing a liquid sample.

Disk, and counting observation apparatus for counting and observing cells through optical microscope by use of the disk


It is to provide a method of transferring a program to an internal memory from an external memory at a high speed and at a high efficiency. The external memory has program data to be transferred and set data of a dedicated register including wait information of the program data. A microcomputer has an internal ROM to which a transfer program for transferring data to an internal RAM from the external memory is prestored. If a CPU in the microcomputer accesses set data for the dedicated register at the head address of the external memory and receives the set data including the wait information of data to be transferred when reset is released, the data is transferred to the internal RAM via an address bus and a data bus by executing the transfer program in the internal ROM. An area of the transferred data in the internal RAM is rearranged at an area including a boot area and a vector table and the program data is executed by the CPU.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microcomputer which is connected to an external memory via a bus and transfers program data to an internal memory from the external memory and a method of transferring a program thereof, more particularly, to a method of transferring a program by which a program can be transferred and executed fast and efficiently and a microcomputer using the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows one of conventional microcomputers using the aforementioned method of transferring the program.
Referring to FIG. 1, in a microcomputer 110, user programs to be executed are written to an internal RAM 111 which is readable and writable in association with the variation of user programs. Generally, the various user programs are stored in an external memory 120 as transfer data and are downloaded to the internal RAM 111 by transferring data from the external memory 120. However, a transfer program to be downloaded to the internal RAM 111 is also stored in the external memory 120 together with the transfer data to be transferred as a download program.
In the case of using the method, in the microcomputer 110, the transfer data is written to the internal RAM 111 according to the download program in the external memory 120 and, therefore, a storing area in the internal RAM 111 is fixed. Accordingly, a vector table needs to be arranged at an area in the external memory 120 at which an access time is longer than that to the internal RAM 111, so that performance of response to an interrupt is decreased when a CPU 112 executes the download program. Also, because an area of the internal RAM 111 is different from an area of the transfer data at which the program to be transferred to the internal RAM 111 is arranged, a wasteful space is caused in the internal RAM 111. Further, if the internal RAM 111 in the microcomputer 110 is used as an instruction RAM, program data needs to be transferred to the instruction RAM. Furthermore, the method must be executed according to the user programs.
A microcomputer to solve the above-mentioned problems is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-133437, namely JP-A 61-133437, in which, as shown in FIG. 2, a microcomputer 210 has a loader in an internal ROM 211. By the loader, an external user program 220 is downloaded to an internal RAM 212. The loader inputs a symbol to be inputted via an input/output port 213 to the internal RAM 212.
In other words, in the case of using the above-mentioned conventional method of transferring the program as shown in FIG. 1, the transfer program to be downloaded to the internal RAM 111 is stored in the external memory 120 and the maximum number of waits is set just after reset is normally released. In JP-A 61-133437, the transfer data is downloaded by using a port function. Accordingly, the conventional methods of transferring the program are not preferable because a certain time to transfer data is necessary and fast data-transfer is impossible.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of transferring a program by which fast and efficient transfer of data is possible and a microcomputer using the method.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of transferring a program of a microcomputer to an internal memory from an external memory which is connected to the microcomputer via a bus, including the steps of, in advance, providing in the microcomputer an internal ROM for storing program data which is recorded in the external memory as a transfer program serving as algorithm to be transferred to the internal memory, and directly transferring the program data which is recorded in the external memory to the internal memory from the external memory by using an address bus and a data bus in accordance with a transfer program of the internal ROM.
Thus, data is transferred between the microcomputer and the external memory by using the address bus and the data bus, so that a transfer program for downloading which transfers a user program is stored in the internal ROM and a CPU directly executes the transfer program in the microcomputer. Further, for downloading of the user program, the use of an input/output port is unnecessary and, therefore, the data can be transferred at a high speed.
Preferably, the program data to be transferred and set data including wait information thereof may be recorded in the external memory, and the microcomputer may receive at least the wait information before the program data which is recorded in the external memory is transferred to the internal memory.
Accordingly, the microcomputer sets the number of waits of the external memory and, then, uses the address bus and the data bus. Thereby, the data can be transferred efficiently.
Further, preferably, the microcomputer may start the transfer program which is stored in the internal ROM by transmitting the set data at a predetermined area including the wait information from the external memory via the address bus and the data bus when reset is released, may transfer the program data from the predetermined area to an internal RAM which is readable and writable via the address bus and the data bus on the transfer program in accordance with the wait information, may rearrange an area of the internal RAM of data obtained by converting a head address of the data that is transferred to the internal RAM into a head address of the predetermined area in the external memory and also by transferring the converted data to an area including a boot area and a vector table for interrupt, and may start the execution of the program by the transferred program data. The arrangement destination is a vector table area, thereby improving the performance of the response to interrupt.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a microcomputer for transferring program data from an external memory which is connected thereto via a bus to an internal memory, including an internal ROM for pre-storing a transfer program which transfers program data to be transferred to the internal memory from the external memory in which the program data to be transferred at a predetermined area and set data including wait information thereof are recorded, and an internal RAM including a boot area and a vector table, wherein on the transfer program, the program data to be transferred is transferred to the internal RAM and, thereafter, an area of the internal RAM is rearranged at the predetermined area of the external memory.
Preferably, the microcomputer further may include a dedicated register for controlling a switching operation of an address and a signal to execute the transfer program of the internal ROM, and the dedicated register rearranges the area of the internal RAM to an area including the boot area and the vector table by switching and changing a head address of the internal RAM to a head address of the predetermined area in the external memory when the transfer of the program data ends.

Microcomputer for transferring program data to an internal memory from an external memory connected via a bus and a method therefor


A vehicle headlight has a motor operated adjustable mounting for adjusting the beam of light in a plane. The adjustment device includes an ear on the headlight with an axially extendable arm, the extension of which is driven by an electric motor. Rotation of the motor causes motorized adjustment of the beam. The motor is slideably mounted in a retainer for movement parallel to the extendable arm. A manually adjustable screw adjusts the position of the motor along the slide to permit manual alignment of the headlight beam.

To operate properly, the headlights of an automobile must be adjusted with respect to the vehicle body so as to be directed toward the road ahead. Presently, it is the practice to adjust the headlight orientation at the time the headlight is installed, with no further adjustment undertaken unless the original adjustment is either lost, or determined by the vehicle user to be deficient.
With the advent of miniaturized electric motors and the computer chip, it has become possible to motorize the aiming of a headlight of an automobile so that the aim of the beam is continuously adjusted as the vehicle is being driven. For example, a heavy load in the trunk of the vehicle will cause the rear springs of the vehicle to become compressed, such that the headlight beams will become elevated and directed into the eyes of oncoming drivers. By providing sensors in the shock absorbers and motorized controls for aiming the headlight beams, the beams can be adjusted downwardly to compensate for the changes in the vehicle orientation. Similarly, motorized controls for the headlights can turn one or both of the headlight beams to one side when sensors in the steering mechanism of the vehicle determine that the vehicle is undertaking a turn. It is anticipated that in the not too distant future, government safety regulations will require vehicle manufacturers to provide motorized controls for headlights.
The motorizing of controls for headlights will not eliminate the need, however, for adjusting the aim of the headlights with respect to the vehicle body when the vehicle is in a steady state condition. For example, if the headlights of a vehicle are not aimed at the proper elevation while the vehicle is in the steady state condition, a microprocessor responding to detectors in the shock absorbers will be unable to properly adjust the beam in response to a load in the trunk. Similarly, motorized controls for the horizontal adjustment of the headlights as the vehicle undertakes a turn cannot be properly undertaken where the headlight beam is directed off road while the vehicle is traveling in a straight line. The motorizing of the controls of a headlight beam require that the headlight position be manually adjustable with respect to the vehicle frame so as to be properly aimed in the steady state condition, where the steady state condition is defined as the vehicle being substantially unloaded, resting on a level surface with the beams directed to illuminate the roadway immediately ahead.
It has become customary to mount the body of a headlight to a vehicle frame by providing three mounting points positioned around the circumference of the headlight body. To manually adjust the aim of a headlight beam, adjustment screws are provided at least two of the three mounting locations of a headlight body. Where only two of the mounting locations are adjustable, the third mounting location typically consists of a ball joint or the like such that one of the two adjustable locations will change the vertical elevation of the beam and the second of the adjustable locations will change the horizontal orientation of the beam.
Prior efforts to motorize the controls for aiming a headlight require that the headlight body be mounted in a first frame pivotable about a first axis, for example a horizontal axis, and the first frame mounted in a second frame pivotable about a second axis, for example a vertical axis. A first motor then adjusts the first frame with respect to the second frame and a second motor adjusts the second frame with respect to the vehicle body. Such efforts not only require the precision manufacture and assembly of several moving parts but also require a considerable enlargement of the space allocation required for the mounting of the headlight. It would be desirable to provide a more efficient mounting of a motorized headlight so as to reduce the amount of space needed to undertake motorized controls and still provide for the manual adjustment of a beam under steady state conditions.

Motorized controls for a headlight of a vehicle


A system for reducing the cost and increasing the rate and reliability of data transmission from space to ground includes a network of relay satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Each relay satellite is configured to receive data from one or more client satellites, and configured to transmit data from LEO to ground using optical communications. The system may also include multiple optical ground stations configured to receive the data and transmit the received data using terrestrial networks to client locations. The network may provide an alternative to downlinking large amounts of data for new satellite operators without an existing ground network and for established satellite operators seeking higher data rates, lower latency, or reduced ground system operating costs.

Recent progress in sensor technology has allowed low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to shrink significantly in size, disrupting a legacy industry where traditional satellites cost 500 million dollars to 1 billion dollars to build and launch. Major investments are being made to address the new opportunities that this provides for data collection, and many companies are launching nanosatellites and/or microsatellites into LEO to capture this opportunity. The rapidly expanding satellite infrastructure is generating vast amounts of data, reaching nearly 20 PB/year in 2014, with no signs that the trend will level off. To bring all that data down from LEO requires an average communication rate of 5 Gb/s, continuously, and that demand will continue to grow.
Typically, most satellites download data via space-to-ground radio-frequency (RF) links, communicating directly with fixed ground stations as the satellites fly within range. The current ground station infrastructure has several key limitations that present significant challenges as the satellite industry continues to grow. Satellite-to-ground communications are "line-of-sight," meaning that ground stations must receive data only from satellites that are directly above the local horizon. The duration of a satellite passes over a ground station depends on the altitude of the satellite and the distance between the ground station and the ground track of the satellite. With satellites in LEO, the maximum pass duration is typically less than ten minutes.
The frequency of passes is strongly dependent on the satellite orbit parameters and the location of the ground station. For example, a satellite in equatorial orbit will pass over an equatorial ground station on each orbit. This means that with a typical orbital period of 90 minutes, the satellite will pass the ground station 16 times per day. Similarly, a satellite in a polar orbit will pass over a ground station located at the North Pole once per orbit. On the other hand, the satellite in polar orbit will pass over the equatorial ground station between two and four times per day depending on the alignment of the ground track with the location of the ground station.
However, it should be noted that the satellite in equatorial orbit will never pass over the polar ground station. Most LEO satellites are in orbits at some inclination between equatorial and polar, and most ground stations are located at latitudes well south of the North Pole. As such, the pass frequency for any given satellite over any given ground location will typically be three to five times per day for ground stations that are not at high latitude (above about 60 degrees) and not at latitudes higher than the orbital inclination of the satellite.
The consequence of limitations on pass duration and frequency is that a satellite will be within communication range of a given ground station for no more than 10 percent of a day, and typically for less than 2 percent of the day. These constraints on pass duration and pass frequency are driven by orbital dynamics and can be overcome only by increasing the number of ground stations or locating the ground stations at very high latitudes. However, increasing the number of ground stations requires a large amount of capital investment. Furthermore, avoiding downlink constraints requires a large number of geographically diverse ground stations that are inherently underutilized.
To compensate for the limitations on ground contact time, the data transmission rate during what contact time is available is increased. High data rates in the RF require some combination of high transmitter power and high-gain antennas on the satellite and the ground station. High power transmitters and high-gain antennas on the space segment are constrained by power and mass limitations on the satellite. High-gain antennas on the ground are not mass limited, but tend to be very large (10 meters or more in diameter) and require significant capital investment.
As data produced in LEO increases substantially with more satellites launched, downlink infrastructure must grow to meet demand. However, a more fundamental limitation to downlink rates will be encountered in the future, simply due to the overuse of available RF bandwidth in the space environment. Furthermore, simply adding new RF ground terminals will not solve the problem, because the ground stations will start to interfere with one another. Similarly, RF bandwidth is constrained on the space side. For example, when two satellites are relatively close to one another, their RF signals can interfere.
For new satellite companies leveraging advances in satellite costs, capital investment for an extended ground station network is particularly burdensome because the size and cost of the ground network does not scale with the size of the satellites. Ground station costs have not scaled at the same rate as satellite costs, requiring significant investment to match growth in satellite capacity.
Laser communication has the potential to provide data rates adequate to handle all the data generated on orbit for the foreseeable future. However, current laser communication technology requires installation of expensive laser transmitters on each satellite, and places operational constraints on the satellite (pointing, jitter, etc.) that are often beyond the capability of budget satellites.
Thus, a laser communication system that can support a broad range of satellites at a moderate cost and without placing an undue burden on the satellites may be beneficial.

Satellite laser communications relay network


An influencing device for influencing an active chassis that includes a plurality of controllable spring or damper units of a vehicle is provided. The influencing device includes a roadway sensor that produces sensor data relating to a roadway located in front of the vehicle in a direction of travel, the sensor data being used to acquire a roadway profile. The influencing device also includes a pilot control unit that determines, as a function of the acquired roadway profile, a pilot control variable that is used to adapt the setting of the spring or damper units to the acquired roadway profile. An input signal for a vehicle body control system, which is used to control the position of the vehicle body, is calculated on the basis of the pilot control variable.

The invention relates to an influencing device for influencing an active chassis system of a vehicle, the active chassis comprising a plurality of controllable spring or damper units of the vehicle, comprising a roadway sensor which produces sensor data relating to a roadway which is located in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel, said sensor data being used to acquire a roadway profile, wherein a pilot control unit determines, as a function of the acquired roadway profile, a pilot control variable which is used to adapt the setting of the spring or damper units to the acquired roadway profile.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,510 B1 discloses a method and a device for determining the state of a roadway and influencing the spring units of the vehicle as a function of the determined state of the roadway. A sensor—for example laser sensor or an image detection sensor—senses the surface of the roadway in front of the vehicle and transmits the sensor data to a control unit which determines the profile of the roadway located in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel. An active chassis system comprising a plurality of spring or damper units is actuated by the control unit as a function of this roadway profile, and performs open-loop or closed-loop control on the spring rate, the damping rate, the pressure, the level etc.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide an influencing device for influencing an active chassis system of a vehicle that improves driving comfort for the vehicle occupants.
The influencing device has a roadway sensor which produces sensor data relating to a roadway located in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel, from which data it is possible to determine a roadway profile which is transmitted to a pilot control unit. The pilot control unit determines, as a function of the roadway profile, a pilot control variable which is used to adapt the setting of the spring or damper units to the acquired roadway profile. On the basis of the pilot control variable, an input variable is for this purpose calculated for a vehicle body control system which is used to perform z control of the position of the vehicle body. For example, the input variable which is acquired using the pilot control variable for the vehicle body control system can modify a setpoint value which is predefined in the vehicle body control system, and as a result can bring about the setting of the active chassis system or of the vehicle to the previously determined roadway profile. The actuation of the spring or damper units as a function of the roadway profile is consequently integrated into a vehicle body control system for controlling the position of the vehicle body.
This ensures that outside the effective range of the pilot controller or when the pilot controller is defective sufficient driving comfort is always ensured, and in such cases the position or the movement of the vehicle body is still controlled using the vehicle body control system. The vehicle body control system which is superimposed on the pilot controller therefore ensures very good driving comfort even when there are faults in the pilot controller.
The pilot control unit advantageously determines a plurality of separate pilot control variables, in particular a pilot control level for each spring or damper unit which is used to acquire a setpoint level of the respective spring or damper unit, and a pilot controller vehicle body position which is used to influence a vehicle body position controller of the vehicle body control system. As a result of this measure, a plurality of degrees of freedom are available for the modification of the vehicle body control system, with the result that the vehicle body control system can very easily be adapted to predefinable conditions or parameters, such as for example the frequency of the roadway excitations which are known by virtue of the acquired roadway profile and which act on the vehicle. The pilot control level can be determined separately for each vehicle wheel here.
In this context, at least the pilot control level can be converted, in a modification stage into a modified pilot control level taking into account predefined properties of the vehicle body control system, and can be used to determine the setpoint level for the spring or damper units. In this way, it is possible to adapt the pilot control level to the system limits or dynamic properties of the vehicle body control system. In particular, the modification stage is embodied as a system dynamics stage, and it determines a dynamics-optimized pilot control level from the pilot control level, wherein the dynamics-optimized pilot control level takes into account the dynamic behavior of the active chassis system of the vehicle.
It is also advantageous if the setpoint level for a spring or damping unit is determined on the basis of the pilot control level and/or a modified pilot control level which is formed therefrom, as well as an output variable of the vehicle body position controller. As a result, simple adaptation of the setpoint level to the acquired roadway profile which is located in front of the vehicle is possible.
Since the pilot control vehicle body position is used to correct an actual state value, fed back to the vehicle body position controller, of the vehicle, improved interaction between the vehicle body control system and the pilot controller can be achieved. In particular, in this context instead of the actual vehicle body position, a vehicle body position which is corrected using the pilot control vehicle body position can be fed to the vehicle body position controller, and/or instead of the actual vehicle body vertical speed can be a vehicle body vertical speed which is corrected using the derivative of the pilot control vehicle body position over time can be fed to the vehicle body position controller. Consequently, it is ensured that the vehicle body position controller does not try to compensate the change in the position of the vehicle body which is possibly brought about by the pilot controller.
The vehicle body control system can have a chassis controller which in turn has the active chassis system with the adjustable spring or damper units which can each contain an adjustable spring and/or an adjustable damper. A pilot control level which is used to influence the actual level of the adjustable spring is determined if an adjustable spring is provided in the spring or damper unit. A damping variable which is used to influence the damping effect of the adjustable damper is determined if an adjustable damper is provided in the spring or damper unit. Consequently, the pilot controller can be integrated into the vehicle body control system comprising an active chassis which has adjustable springs or adjustable dampers or even both.
It is also advantageous if a calculated wheel position which is transmitted to the pilot control unit as an input variable is acquired from the acquired roadway profile in a wheel movement acquisition stage. In this context, in particular the dynamic properties of the vehicle wheel can be taken into account. The pilot control is more precise as a result of the calculated wheel position being taken into account, which further increases the achieved comfort. At least one of the pilot control variables can be acquired as a function of the calculated wheel position.
It is also advantageous if a contour profile describing a position path from a plurality of vehicle body positions for the travel of the vehicle along the roadway profile is acquired on the basis of a variable which describes the roadway profile, wherein the curvature of the contour profile is minimized under the peripheral condition that the maximum spring travel values available at the spring or damper units are complied with. This ensures the greatest possible degree of comfort while taking into account the fact that, depending on the roadway profile, it is not always possible to compensate for all the elevations or depressions in the roadway using the active chassis systems without an effect on the position of the vehicle body.
It is possible for the vehicle body control system to be influenced by the pilot control variable or modified pilot control variable in such a way that the position of the vehicle body when there are roadway excitations in a lower frequency range below a lower cutoff frequency essentially follows the roadway profile. In this lower frequency range, changes in the roadway profile are converted into corresponding changes in position of the vehicle body, which permits a simple implementation possibility for optimizing the comfort while allowing for the system limits.
The lower cutoff frequency may be variable in this context and may depend on a variable which describes the roadway profile, in particular on the acquired, conditioned roadway profile. In addition, the lower cutoff frequency can depend on the maximum spring travel values which are respectively available at the spring or damper units. Since the lower cutoff frequency is minimized under the peripheral condition that the maximum spring travel values available at the spring or damper units are maintained when traveling along the roadway profile which is located in front of the vehicle, it is easily possible to achieve the greatest possible level of comfort while allowing for the system limits, in particular the spring travel limits. The curvature of the contour profile can be minimized very easily while complying with the maximum spring travel values available at the spring or damper units.
In this context, the vehicle body control system can control the position of the vehicle body when there are roadway excitations with frequencies above the lower cutoff frequency with the objective of maintaining the position of the vehicle body essentially unchanged so that a high level of comfort is provided in the region of frequencies above the lower frequency range. In this frequency range, roadway excitations are not to act on the position of the vehicle body. This applies up to an upper cutoff frequency of approximately 8-10 Hz which corresponds to the dynamic limit of the active chassis system.
It is also advantageous to provide a diagnostic unit which acquires a deviation between the anticipated state of the vehicle and the actual, current state of the vehicle on the basis of a variable which describes the roadway profile and a variable which describes the current state of the vehicle. In this way, control errors or else system defects can be detected.
The diagnostic unit acquires the anticipated state of the vehicle on, for example, the basis of the acquired roadway profile, in particular using a predefined vehicle model.
It is also possible for the diagnostic unit to acquire, on the basis of the deviation, a correction value which is used to adapt the pilot control variable and/or the modified pilot control variable. As a result of this configuration it is possible, at least partially, to adapt the influencing device to external conditions and compensate, for example, wear states of the active chassis system or changed dynamics of the vehicle body control system due to temperature fluctuations.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Influencing device for influencing an active chassis system of a vehicle


The invention includes a way to route multicast traffic through a switch or other device that uses input queuing. Basis vectors are associated with each virtual queue, which in a preferred embodiment are multicast virtual output queues (MVOQs). Each incoming flow is allocated to the MVOQ whose basis vector is closest to the destination vector of the incoming flow, creating queues whose contents are distinct from each other in terms of destination addresses of the flows in the respective queue. To optimize for traffic encountered basis vectors can be chosen using vector quantization methods. Basis vectors can be set statically or can be selected and updated dynamically, responsive to the traffic encountered or as set by an operator. The invention can reduce the number of virtual queues required for a given incremental improvement in performance or can improve performance for a given number of virtual queues.

It is respectfully suggested that it may be appropriate for the same examiner to examine both applications.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to multicast routing.
2. Related Art
Communication on a computer network is accomplished by sending messages. Messages can include one or more data packets. Packets can be of fixed or variable lengths. Cells are packets having a fixed length.
Messages have a source and at least one destination address. A computer network includes devices that direct traffic towards the destination address. A switch is one such device.
Switches have multiple input interfaces and multiple output interfaces, which may be connected in a variety of ways. A cross bar switch is designed so that every input interface can be connected to every output interface.
There are two types of network traffic. In the first type a message has only one final destination address. This is known as unicast traffic. One use of unicast traffic is point to point communication between two computers. In the second type of traffic, called multicast, a message is sent to multiple destinations. One use of multicast transmissions is when a computer user wishes to send a message over the Internet to many individuals wishing to receive the message. A switch can have both unicast input interfaces as well as multicast input interfaces; often an interface handles both unicast as well as multicast traffic.
Memory Bandwidth Limitations
There are two main types of schemes for storing messages in the known art, which are input queuing and output queuing. (Combinations are also possible). In input queuing, a packet is queued before it enters the crossbar switch, and waits in line to arrive at the head of the input queue and be sent onward to its destination across the crossbar fabric. In output queuing, packets are forwarded onto the crossbar fabric from the input interface immediately, and queued up as they arrive at their destination output.
Output queuing hits limitations in memory speed faster than does input queuing because output queuing requires a memory at the output which is capable of momentarily receiving traffic from multiple inputs (in the worst case, all inputs), and sending out traffic at the output line rate. This means the memory in an output queued scheme must be faster than the memory in an input queued scheme by a factor equal to the number of interfaces.
In order to improve efficiency and thus the general performance in the case of high performance systems, it is preferable to use input queuing to accommodate the limited memory speeds available. The following description of the Head of Line Blocking problem assumes an input queued system.
Head of Line Blocking Problem
A unicast message, having only one destination, only needs to be routed to one output interface of a switch. Messages may be simply queued in the order received until they can be transmitted through the selected output interface. A problem in the known art occurs when the message at the head of a first queue is to be sent to an output interface that is not available due to a message from another queue using the output interface. The first queue is blocked until the particular output interface is available; no messages from this queue can be sent until the first element in the queue, or xe2x80x9chead elementxe2x80x9d, is cleared by being sent across the switch to the output interface. (The queue may be implemented with each element being a single packet or cell, or may be implemented with each element including all the packets or cells that make up a single message). If the output interface is busy for an extended period, several queues may become blocked. This is known as the Head-of-Line blocking (xe2x80x9cHOL blockingxe2x80x9d) problem.
A known technique for approaching the HOL blocking problem for unicast traffic is the use of virtual output queues (xe2x80x9cVOQsxe2x80x9d). VOQs are virtual (logical) queues maintained in software or hardware; each VOQ is associated with a physical interface. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the VOQs and possible input/output combinations. The number of VOQs needed scales arithmetically as Mxc3x97N, where M and N are the number of output interfaces and input interfaces, respectively. For a crossbar switch with 16 unicast input interfaces and 16 output interfaces, commonly called a xe2x80x9c16xc3x9716xe2x80x9d switch, 256 VOQs are need. If a particular output interface is tied up, a virtual queue associated with some other output interface can still send messages to that other output interface.
It should be noted that although the term used is xe2x80x9cvirtual output queuexe2x80x9d, the method is actually an input queued method, as the queues are maintained for each input interface.
The VOQ method has the drawback that it only applies to unicast routing. VOQs cannot be applied to multicast routing because for multicast the number of VOQs needed to accommodate all possible input/output combinations is prohibitively large, growing exponentially as 2Mxc3x97N, where M is the number of output interfaces and N is the number of multicast input interfaces. For a switch with 2 input interfaces and 16 output interfaces, a total of 2xc3x97216 (approximately 130,000) virtual queues would be required to implement VOQs. Very large numbers of VOQs use valuable resources such as memory and chip real estate, and likely cannot fit on a single chip using current technology.
For multicast routing, it is disclosed in the above referenced, co-pending application, xe2x80x9cMulticast Routing with Multicast Virtual Output Queues and Shortest Queue First Allocationxe2x80x9d, to use multicast virtual output queues (xe2x80x9cMVOQsxe2x80x9d) to reduce Head-of-Line blocking and improve performance. MVOQs are virtual queues maintained for an input interface having multicast capability. The number of MVOQs is fewer than the 2M possible destination vectors for a multicast message. Because of this lack of a one-to-one correspondence between MVOQs and destination vectors, it is not possible to simply maintain dedicated queues as in the unicast/VOQ case where, for each input interface, a VOQ is dedicated to each output interface. Consequently, the problem of assigning incoming flows of messages to the limited number of MVOQs available must be solved.
The use of Shortest Queue First (SQF) Allocation to assign flows is also disclosed in the above referenced, co-pending application, xe2x80x9cMulticast Routing with Multicast Virtual Output Queues and Shortest Queue First Allocationxe2x80x9d. SQF allocation is intelligent and provides improved performance. However, SQF does not always provide optimal performance. SQF is responsive to the length of the virtual queues but is not directly responsive to, and cannot be customized for, characteristics of the traffic encountered or characteristics of the flows that are already in the queues.
Allocation of flows in such a manner as to improve performance for some kinds of traffic, such as non-uniformly distributed, long-lived, and bursty flows, continues to be a problem. Allocation of flows that can be customized to the traffic is desirable. Multicast transmissions are increasingly common and HOL blocking is an ongoing problem. It will become increasingly common for traffic on networks to be bursty and non-uniform due to increasing popularity of videoconferencing, IP telephony, and other long-lived communications.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to be able to route multicast transmissions using virtual queues in a manner that further reduces HOL blocking, improves system performance, and can be adjusted for different traffic patterns.
This advantage is achieved in the invention in which vectors, called basis vectors, are associated with virtual queues and multicast flows are assigned to the nearest queue first, producing virtual queues that are distinct from each other in terms of the characteristics of the elements in the queue. Distance is measured as described in the Detailed Description below. In a preferred embodiment, vector quantization methods are used to determine the basis vectors to optimize for the traffic pattern encountered. One embodiment of the invention uses an extension of the Lloyd Max Quantizer to carry out the vector quantization.
The invention includes a way to route multicast traffic through a switch or other device that uses input queuing. Basis vectors are associated with each virtual queue, which in a preferred embodiment are multicast virtual output queues (MVOQs). Each incoming flow is allocated to the MVOQ whose basis vector is closest to the destination vector of the incoming flow, creating queues whose contents are distinct from each other in terms of destination addresses of the flows in the respective queue. To optimize for traffic encountered basis vectors can be chosen using vector quantization methods. Basis vectors can be set statically or can be selected and updated dynamically, responsive to the traffic encountered or as set by an operator. The invention can reduce the number of virtual queues required for a given incremental improvement in performance or can improve performance for a given number of virtual queues.

Multicast routing with nearest queue first allocation and dynamic and static vector quantization


A method for filling a receiver with expanded fibers includes the steps of feeding at least one bundle of fibers from at least one roving; introducing the at least one bundle into a portable tool having a manual gripping element, a spray nozzle, an air supply device connected for supplying air to the nozzle, an extraction system configured to hold the at least one bundle and feed the at least one bundle to the nozzle, and an inlet guide positioned to guide the at least one bundle to the extraction system; and using the air supply device to expand the fibers of the at least one bundle in said spray nozzle, and spray the expanded fibers into the receiver.

The present application is based on French patent application no. 01/02991, filed on Mar. 2, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, int its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and device for inserting, into a receiving housing such as a cavity, or for depositing on a surface, continuous fibers, for example glass fibers, in expanded form, with a view to acoustically and/or thermally insulating the deposition housing or environment.
2. Description of the Background
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,471, for deadening the noise of an acoustic exhaust muffler for an engine, to fill the space surrounding the exhaust gas discharge cylinder with glass fibers, which fibers consist of continuous glass filaments supplied from a yarn roving and are in the form of a bulked product. There, a glass yarn roving is treated by wheels for stretching out/paying out the yarn, and for guiding the yarn, a braking wheel for controlling the tension in the yarn, and a compressed air apparatus for spraying the yarn into the space that is to be filled, the air injected into the apparatus allowing the filaments to be separated, entangled and sprayed.
However, this device, installed at a factory for the mass-production of exhaust mufflers requires numerous take-up elements for stretching out, guiding and controlling the tension in the yarn as far as the spraying apparatus. Moreover, it is not possible for this device to be used in other applications of filling or depositing, the receiving elements (cavity or surface) of which are too bulky to be filled in factory, or which are fixed.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a device for filling or depositing expanded fibers, which is simpler to use and more compact than known devices, thus making it lighter in weight and portable.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method and device for filling or depositing expanded fibers, which is easy to handle and to direct, therefore allowing the fibers to be sprayed in any direction.
According to a feature of the invention, a device comprises a spraying apparatus for charging, in expanded form, fibers from at least one bundle of fibers taken from at least one roving, the apparatus comprising a portable tool having a manual gripping element, the portable tool comprising a nozzle for spraying the fibers of the at least one bundle; an air supply device connected for supplying air to the nozzle so as to expand fibers of a bundle therein; an extraction system configured to hold the at least one bundle and feed the at least one bundle to the nozzle; and an inlet guide positioned to guide the at least one bundle to the extraction system.
This device is therefore portable, which has the advantage of enabling it to be used on receiving elements which cannot be transported or which are difficult to access.
The bundle of the roving may be formed of a number of continuous or discontinuous filaments made of glass or thermoplastic. Depending on the application, it may be envisaged that the device will comprise several rovings, the bundles of which are paid out and bulked by the spraying apparatus together and simultaneously.
In the case of the use of a single roving, the latter may be portable, being placed in a basket.
According to one feature, the bundle extraction system has two cylindrical rollers rotating in opposite directions and between which the bundle passes, and an outlet guide arranged at the outlet of the rollers and which takes up the bundle. The rotational speed of the rollers gives the bundle its linear speed of travel.
According to another feature, a device for guiding the bundle towards the inlet of the apparatus is provided an the outside of the body of the apparatus and consists, for example, of an eyelet or a flexible tube. In the case of several bundles, a device for guiding the bundles is provided on the outside of the body of the apparatus and consists of a row of eyelets arranged along an axis parallel to the axes of rotation of the rollers.
Preferrably, there is provided a debundling system which consists of an associated spreader bar system at the roving outlet or at the inlet to the spraying apparatus.
The extraction system advantageously operates using a pneumatic motor.
According to another feature, the spraying apparatus has the form of a gun, the handle of which constitutes the holding element and houses the pneumatic motor.
Preferably the air supply to the nozzle and the air supply to the motor came from the same source, such as a pneumatic compressor, so as to simplify the device as far as possible.
Advantageously, means of recovering air which has been exhausted from the pneumatic motor, consist of a pipe which is connected to the exhaust region of the pneumatic motor and is arranged to open, laterally to the outlet guide.

Method and device for inserting fibers in expanded form into a cavity or depositing them on a surface


A power supply device includes a power supply circuit, a casing, a mold resin and a grounding member. The casing is conductive. At least part of a circuit portion of the power supply circuit is stored in the casing. A resin injector is formed in the casing. A mold resin is injected from the resin injector to fill the casing and enclose the circuit portion. The grounding member is conductive. The grounding member is arranged in the casing to shield the resin injector from the circuit portion while being in contact with the mold resin.

A power supply device that operates with high stability is used in a device that performs precise measurement or a precise analysis such as a measurement device or an analysis device. For example, in Patent Document 1, a time-of-flight mass spectrometer that has a flight tube is described. A high D/C voltage is supplied to the flight tube by a voltage applier (power supply device).
In the time-of-flight mass spectrometer, each ion generated from a sample is introduced into a flight space of the flight tube and flies in the flight space at a speed corresponding to a mass-to-charge ratio. Thereafter, the ions arrive at a detector in an ascending order of the mass-to-charge ratio and are detected by the detector. The flight time of each detected ion is converted into a mass-to-charge ratio, whereby a mass spectrum is created. Mass spectrometry of the sample is performed based on the created mass spectrum.
[Patent Document 1] WO 2017-158842


A ball slide bearing (18) includes an inside ring (19) and an outside ring (21), whereby the inside ring (19) is provided with an essentially cylindrical inner surface (19A) and a spherical outer surface (19B), and whereby the outside ring (21) is provided with a cylindrical outer surface (21B) and a cylindrical inner surface (21A). The bearing (18) includes an intermediate ring (20) that is inserted between the outside ring (21) and the inside ring (19), whereby the intermediate ring is provided with a spherical inner surface (20A) that can work with the outer surface of the inside ring (19) to allow the rotation along the three axes of rotation and an outer surface that defines at least one curved sliding surface (20B) in a direction that can work with a corresponding inside sliding surface (21A) of the outside ring (21).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a ball slide bearing and a connecting device associated with a mast for hooking a gas turbine engine under an aircraft wing comprising such a bearing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the aeronautical industry, it is known to use a ball joint for immobilizing two elements, such as a connecting rod and a structural part, in translational movement relative to one another, while allowing a relative movement in rotation of these elements. Such a ball joint is used, for example, in a device for hooking a mast for hooking an aircraft gas turbine engine under a wing element.
On existing aircraft, the engines are suspended below the wing by a complex hooking device that is also called a hooking mast, comprising a rigid structure in the form of a box that consists of the assembly of longitudinal beams and panels connected to one another by several transversal ribs.
These devices are designed in particular for allowing the transmission to the wing of static and dynamic forces produced by the engines, such as weight, thrust, or else different dynamic forces.
In this connection, in the known hooking devices of the prior art, the transmission of these forces between the rigid structure and the wing is ensured by hooking means that consist of three fasteners, one front fastener that consists of two lateral half-fasteners, a rear fastener, as well as an intermediate fastener that is designed to absorb the thrust forces generated by the associated gas turbine engine.
Referring to FIG. 1, such a hooking device 1 of a gas turbine engine 10 for an aircraft according to the prior art is seen. To analyze the forces, an orthonormed reference point (OXYZ)—in which the OX axis represents the direction that is parallel to a longitudinal axis of this gas turbine engine 10, the OY axis represents the direction that is oriented crosswise relative to this gas turbine engine 10 and to the aircraft, and the OZ axis represents the vertical direction upward—is assigned to the gas turbine engine.
The terms "front" and "rear" are to be considered relative to a direction of advance of the aircraft that is shown diagrammatically by an arrow 7.
More specifically, this device comprises a rigid hooking structure 6 and a set of hooking means 1 inserted between the gas turbine engine 10 and a wing element 2. These hooking means 1 consist of a front fastener 3, an intermediate fastener 4 that is described in more detail below, and a rear fastener 5, whereby the intermediate fastener is placed between the front and rear fasteners.
Furthermore, in this FIG. 1, conventional hooking means 12 inserted between the rigid structure 6 and the gas turbine engine 10 are also shown by way of indication. These hooking means 12 are not part of this invention and consequently will not be described in more detail.
Referring to FIG. 1, it can be seen that the intermediate fastener that is designed to absorb the thrust forces, also called "spigot" fastener, comprises a ball joint 8 and a shaft 9, also called "spigot," housed in the ball joint. The ball joint and the shaft are attached by means of an attachment fitting to elements of boxes of mast and wing.
More specifically, the attachment fitting for attaching the shaft has an essentially flat support surface that is designed to be attached to the surface of the upper longitudinal beam of the box 6 using known mechanical attachment means. This fitting comprises an integrated shaft or a housing in which a shaft is connected, one or the other being oriented essentially parallel to the OZ axis. During the stowage of the mast, this shaft is housed in the ball joint that is installed in a wing element 2.
Now referring more specifically to FIG. 2A, it is possible to see that the ball joint consists of a set of elements accommodated in an opening that is made in another attachment fitting 13 of a type that is similar to the first. This second attachment fitting also has a flat support surface that is designed to be attached to a surface of the wing element using known attachment means. This unit comprises a first inside ring 15 that has a spherical surface arranged inside a second outside ring 16. The surface of the outside ring that is in contact with the inside surface of the opening of the fitting comprises sliding flat surfaces 31. These surfaces work with corresponding inside flat surfaces of the opening to make possible a movement along the longitudinal axis OX of the gas turbine engine. The two rings are kept within the opening by a tightening plate 14 that works with a brake washer 17. The movement of the axis within the inside ring ensures the movement along the OZ axis. Thus, the intermediate fastener 4 is designed so as to absorb the transverse forces directed in the direction OY.
A major problem in such a structural configuration of the ball joint comes from friction between the flat surfaces of the outside ring and the inside surface of the attachment fitting. Actually, the relative movements under load of the surfaces are accompanied by friction that generates phenomena of contact wear and tear and sliding at the level of the contact surfaces between the outside ring and the attachment fitting. In particular, there is a risk of roughness peaks that are present on the surfaces that rub under the action of contact wear and tear that weld together, which can, under high load, lead to complete locking or jamming of the ball joint. These wear and tear phenomena are all the more critical when the friction surfaces are flat due to the effects of free edges.
Furthermore, when such a problem occurs, it is necessary to change the fitting 13 and the outside ring 16. For this purpose, all of the parts that constitute the connection have to be removed. Since the fitting 13 is attached to a panel that is made of composite material, the fact of withdrawing attachment means and attaching a new fitting can make the composite structure fragile, which can lead to severe deterioration of the mechanical properties of the panel. Maintenance for changing damaged parts therefore proves difficult and expensive.

Ball slide bearing and connecting device associated with a mast for hooking a gas turbine engine under an aircraft wing comprising such a bearing


A hydraulic control device having a reverse inhibition system and applicable to an automatic transmission for a vehicle of a type including a friction engaging means for a reverse stage having a reverse exclusive hydraulic pressure chamber adapted to be supplied with a hydraulic pressure only for setting up the reverse stage, the reverse inhibition system having a reverse inhibition valve biased to a reverse inhibition position by a control hydraulic pressure for interrupting supply of hydraulic pressure to the reverse exclusive hydraulic pressure chamber and to a reverse allowance position by a hold hydraulic pressure for allowing the supply of hydraulic pressure to the reverse exclusive hydraulic pressure chamber, wherein the hydraulic pressure supplied to the reverse exclusive hydraulic pressure chamber is used for the hold hydraulic pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulic pressure control device for an automatic transmission for a vehicle such as an automobile, and more particularly, to a hydraulic control device equipped with a reverse inhibition mechanism for inhibiting that a reverse stage is set up by malfunction of the hydraulic control device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the art of automatic transmission for a vehicle such as an automobile it has already been proposed as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laying-open Publication 60-37446 to incorporate a reverse inhibition mechanism in a hydraulic control device for the automatic transmission so as to inhibit that the reverse stage is set up by an erroneous manual shifting of a manual shift valve to a reverse range by the driver during forward running of the vehicle.
Such a reverse stage inhibition mechanism has a reverse stage inhibition valve generally called a reverse inhibition valve for selectively communicating or interrupting a hydraulic pressure supply passage for a hydraulic pressure chamber of a friction engaging means for setting up the reverse stage. Such a reverse inhibition valve has a valve element movable between a permission position for communicating said hydraulic pressure supply passage and an inhibition position for interrupting said hydraulic pressure supply passage, said valve element being adapted to be driven by a hydraulic pressure supplied to an inhibition port thereof so as to inhibit the setting up of the reverse stage.
Further, in order to prevent that said valve element moves to said inhibition position by an erroneous operation when once the setting up of the reverse stage has been allowed, it is contemplated to hold said valve element at said permission position, as proposed in patent application Ser. No. 07/302,256 assigned to the same assignee as that of the present application.
When the friction engaging means supplied with a hydraulic pressure for setting up the reverse stage is also supplied with a hydraulic pressure for setting up a forward speed stage such as the first speed stage, if in a speed stage shifting from the first speed stage to the reverse stage by operation of a manual shift valve the exhausting of the hydraulic pressure from the friction engaging means delays, the valve element for controlling allowance and inhibition of the reverse stage will be held at its allowance position by the hydraulic pressure for the first speed stage even when the reverse inhibition operation is to be obtained.

Hydraulic control device for automatic transmission for vehicle with high accuracy reverse inhibition system


The subject disclosure provides a balance valve and a vacuum booster. The balance valve includes a valve seat (11), a connecting cylinder (16) and a conic cylinder (17) orderly connected from left to right, wherein the valve seat (11) is annular, a sealing flange (12) is provided on an outer periphery of the conic cylinder (17), a protruded lip (13) for sealing is provided on an outer periphery of the valve seat (11), and the valve seat (11) is provided therein with a via hole (14) for communicating a left surface of the valve seat (11) with a right surface of the valve seat (11) outside the connecting cylinder (16). The vacuum booster having the balance valve can reduce a difference between the starting force and the restoring force, thereby increasing the restoring force while keeping the starting force of the same level.

The vacuum booster is a boosting device for the automobile brake system. The function is to amplify the pedal input force to reduce the braking force applied by the driver. The principle is that the booster has a front cavity and a rear cavity separated by a valve body diaphragm and a diaphragm tray. The two cavities are kept in a vacuum state by a vacuum pump or an auxiliary vacuum pump of the engine intake manifold, and a pressure difference is formed by controlling the vacuum degree of one cavity, so as to achieve the boosting effect.
During usage, the brake takes effect only when the driver overcomes the starting force, thus the assembly plant wishes the starting force to be small. Meanwhile, the restoring force can help the pedal to return, thus the restoring force is hoped to be large. But the prior art vacuum boosters disclosed by the Chinese Patent CN 102923113 A (publication date: Feb. 13, 2013), has a problem in that the restoring force is small.
Starting force, as used in the subject disclosure, includes a minimum input force when the vacuum booster starts generating an output force.
Restoring force, as the term is used in the subject disclosure, occurs during the continuous decrease of an input force of the vacuum booster, and includes the input force obtained when the output force is decreased to zero.