A total reflection terahertz wave measuring apparatus 1 is configured to acquire information on a subject S by a total reflection measurement method by use of a terahertz wave, and includes a light source 11, a branching part 12, a chopper 13, an optical path length difference adjusting part 14, a polarizer 15, a separator 17, a terahertz wave generating element 20, an internal total reflection prism 31, a terahertz wave detecting element 40, a ¼ wavelength plate 51, a polarization split element 52, a photodetector 53A, a photodetector 53B, a differential amplifier 54, and a lock-in amplifier 55. The internal total reflection prism 31 is a so-called aplanatic prism, and has an entrance plane 31a, an exit plane 31b, and a reflection plane 31c. The terahertz wave generating element 20 is provided to be integrated with the entrance plane 31a of the internal total reflection prism 31, and the terahertz wave detecting element 40 is provided to be integrated with the exit plane 31b of the internal total reflection prism 31.

A terahertz wave is an electromagnetic wave having a frequency of approximately 0.01 THz to 100 THz corresponding to an intermediate range between light waves and radio waves, and has an intermediate property between light waves and radio waves. As an application of such a terahertz wave, a technology for acquiring information on a subject by measuring a temporal waveform of an electric field amplitude of a terahertz wave which is transmitted through or is reflected by the subject has been studied (refer to Patent Document 1).
A technology for measuring information on a subject by use of a terahertz wave is generally as follows. That is, a pulsed light output from a light source (for example, a femtosecond laser light source) is branched into two to be a pump light and a probe light by a branching part. The pump light between those is received by a terahertz wave generating element (for example, a nonlinear optical crystal or a photoconductive antenna element), and thereby, a pulsed terahertz wave is generated from the terahertz wave generating element. This generated terahertz wave is transmitted through or reflected by a subject, to acquire information (for example, an absorption coefficient, a refractive index) on the subject, and thereafter, the terahertz wave is made incident on a terahertz wave detecting element (for example, an electro-optic crystal or a photoconductive antenna element) in substantially the same timing as that of the probe light.
In the terahertz wave detecting element which receives the terahertz wave and the probe light, a correlation between both lights is detected. For example, in a case in which an electro-optic crystal is used as the terahertz wave detecting element, the terahertz wave and the probe light are coupled by a wave synthesizer, to be made incident on the electro-optic crystal, and birefringence is induced in accordance with propagation of the terahertz wave in the electro-optic crystal, and a polarization state of the probe light is changed by the birefringence. A change in the polarization state of the probe light in the electro-optic crystal is detected. As a result, an electric field amplitude of the terahertz wave is detected, which enables to acquire information on the subject.
With respect to acquisition of information on a subject with a terahertz wave, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, in some cases, acquisition of information on a subject with a terahertz wave is carried out, not only by transmission or reflection of a terahertz wave through or by a subject part, but also by making a terahertz wave be totally reflected by a plane of a prism to generate an evanescent component, and to irradiate the subject on the plane with the evanescent component of the terahertz wave. According to the description in Patent Document 1, the technology by utilizing total reflection of a terahertz wave yields advantageous effects that a subject is not limited to a solid substance and the like.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2004-354246    Patent Document 2: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2006-184078

Total reflection tera hertz wave measuring apparatus


A humidifier has a stack unit having a plurality of water-vapor-permeable membranes which are arranged parallel one above the other and spaced apart from one another. Two adjacent membranes are connected to one another via fixing elements, wherein a first fixing element acts on the top membrane from above and a second fixing element acts on the bottom membrane from below.

Humidifiers for fuel cells are known, for example, from DE 10 2009 034 095 A1 or EP 1 261 992 B1, which include a plurality of water-vapor-permeable membranes which separate flow channels through which moist or dry air is guided. Water molecules penetrate through the membrane from the moist to the dry air flow, which thereby is enriched with moisture. The moistened air flow is fed to a fuel cell system in which electricity is generated as a result of an electrochemical reaction.
In DE 10 2009 034 095 A1, a plurality of membranes arranged one above the other and spaced apart from one another are combined to a form a stack, wherein the membranes, in their edge region, are connected to frame parts, and a sealing element for a flow-tight closure is arranged between the frame parts of adjacent membranes. The dry or moist air flows crosswise through flow channels which are arranged one above the other and between which in each case one membrane is placed. The frame parts and the sealing elements therebetween also serve as spacers in order to fix the membranes, which are clamped in parallel, spaced apart from one another.


A method for screening bacteria to select strains which inhibit the weed downy brome in small grain crops under field conditions and method for field application of the bacteria to inhibit downy brome in small grain crops in a commercial setting are described. Three Pseudomonas strains initially determined as non-fluorescent which passed the screen test are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the isolation, selection, and application of novel strains of bacteria which have the ability to control the weed downy brome in small grain crops without deleteriously affecting the crop.
2. Description of the Art
Downy brome (Bromus tectorum) and the closely related species Japanese brome (B. japonicus), and cheat (B. secalinus), hereinafter referred to collectively as downy brome, are winter annual grass weeds which cause serious reductions in small grain crop yields by competing with crops for moisture, space, and nutrients. This results in significant economic losses. The spread of these weeds has increased in recent years because conservation tillage systems make these weeds more difficult to control than conventional tillage systems.
Downy brome is a major weed of winter crops especially winter wheat. It can also be a problem in winter barley but is of less economic importance because winter barley acreage is relatively small. Winter wheat yield losses can be as high as 45% with 84-100 downy brome weeds/yard.sup.2 while losses of 10% occur with a reduced downy brome infestation (Stahlman, Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station 87-69-S, 1986). Downy brome control of greater than 80% with the herbicide dicloflop resulted in 129 to 263% increased grain yield when compared to the control (Thill et al. In: STEEP Conservation Concepts and Accomplishments, L. F. Elliott et al. (eds.), pages 275-287, Washington State University Press (1987)). However, no chemical herbicide presently available gives consistent control against this weed.
While use of antagonistic microorganisms for biological control of some weeds have been reported, no bacterial strain has been previously found which would control the weed downy brome; additionally, no procedure for the selection of bacteria which inhibit downy brome in small grain crops has been reported. Because the physiological characteristics required for a bacterial strain to control weeds are very specific as to (1) the weed to be controlled; (2) the mode of action of weed control; (3) the activity and ecological niche of the microorganism; and (4) cultural practices and soil and climatic conditions favorable for control, information about microorganism treatments for control of weeds other than downy brome cannot be used to predict strains of microorganisms which would reduce downy brome under field conditions or predict criteria for selecting such strains.

Method for screening bacteria and application thereof for field control of the weed downy brome

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


A method, computer program product, and storage device for managing a computerized memory for storing data are disclosed. Data updates are performed by writing data updates out-of-place where data updates to outdated data are written to a subunit different from a subunit containing the outdated data. The subunit containing the outdated data is invalid, while a subunit containing up-to-date data is a valid subunit. A data structure is maintained for providing the m units in a sorted way. A first subset of n units is selected out of the set of m units with n<m by selecting units from n positions in the data structure. It is searched in the first subset to identify a unit that matches a predetermined criterion, and data of valid subunits of a unit identified in the first subset is rewritten into at least another unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to managing a computerized memory for storing data.
2. Description of Related Art
Solid-state memory devices encompass rewritable non-volatile memory devices which can use electronic circuitry for storing data. Currently, solid-state memory devices start replacing conventional storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical disk drives in some arenas, such as in mass storage applications for laptops or desktops. Solid state memory devices are also investigated for replacing conventional storage devices in other areas such as in enterprise storage systems. This is because solid state memory devices offer exceptional bandwidth as well as excellent random I/O (input/output) performance along with an appreciated robustness due to lack of moveable parts.
However, writing data to a solid-state memory device such as a flash memory device requires paying attention to specifics in the flash technology: NAND flash memory is organized in pages and blocks. Multiple pages form a block. While read and write operations can be applied to pages as a smallest entity of such operation, erase operations can only be applied to entire blocks. And while in other storage technologies outdated data can simply be overwritten by up-to-date data, flash technology requires an erase operation before up-to-date data can be written to an erased block.
Because flash technology erase operations take much longer than read or write operations, a writing technique is applied called "write out of place" in which new or updated data is written to some free page offered by a free page allocator instead of writing it to the same page where the outdated data resides. The page containing the outdated data is marked as invalid page.
The more data is written over time, the less free pages can be offered and new blocks can need to be reclaimed for a free block queue, i.e. a queue for providing free, i.e. erased blocks for writing new, i.e. updated data to. New free blocks need to be reclaimed from blocks filled with valid and/or invalid data. The block reclaiming process—also known in literature as "garbage collection process"—first identifies blocks for cleaning based on a given policy. Then valid data still residing in these blocks is copied (relocated) to other blocks, and finally the blocks that now are free from valid data are erased and become available again for rewriting. Consequently, the reclaiming mechanism introduces additional read and write operations, the extent of which depends on the specific policy deployed as well as on system parameters. The additional write operations result in the multiplication of user writes, a phenomenon referred to as "write amplification". As the number of erase/write operations that can be performed before a solid state storage device wears out is limited, the extent of the write amplification is critical because it negatively affects the lifetime and endurance of solid state storage devices. Therefore, a reclaiming mechanism is efficient when it keeps the write amplification as low as possible, and also achieves a good wear leveling in the sense of blocks being worn out as evenly as possible.
In connection with log-structured file systems implemented on a hard disk reclaiming mechanisms are discussed. In "The Design and Implementation of a Log-Structured File System" by M. Rosenblum and J. Ousterhout, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, Volume 10, No 1, pages 26-52, February 1992, a technique for disk storage management called a log-structured file system is introduced which writes all modifications to a disk sequentially in a log-like structure, thereby speeding up both file writing and crash recovery. The log is the only structure on the disk; it contains indexing information so that files can be read back from the log efficiently. In order to maintain large free areas on disk for fast writing, the log is divided into segments and uses a segment cleaner to compress the live information from heavily fragmented segments. One of the cleaners introduced uses a policy where it always chooses the least-utilized segments to clean.
When put in context with a flash-based solid state drive, the above policy introduces the usage of blocks only with the smallest number of valid pages for erasure, such that it yields the most amount of free space for reclaiming by means of a single action. As systems encountered in practice are comprised of thousands of blocks, the above reclaiming process can take a substantial amount of time to examine all of the blocks in order to select the block with the minimum amount of valid pages. This is also the case when the number of valid pages of blocks is constantly updated upon each host write. Depending on the processor's capabilities the time required can be prohibitively long.
To reduce the number of CPU cycles consumed by the such reclaiming process a windowed reclaiming scheme is proposed in "Write Amplification Analysis in Flash-Based Solid State Drives" by X.-Y. Hu, E. Eleftheriou, R. Haas, I. Iliadis, and R. Pletka, in Proceedings of the Israeli Experimental Systems Conference (SYSTOR), Haifa, Israel, pp. 1-9, May 2009. According to this scheme, occupied blocks are maintained in a queue according to the order in which they have been written, with the oldest blocks occupying the first positions. The windowed reclaiming process restricts the selection process to the oldest w blocks only.

Methods and storage devices for managing write operations

International Business Machines Corporation


A method couples a body worn apparatus and a prosthetic with the body of a person. The body worn apparatus has a plurality of activation elements arranged in at least one suit bundle, and a substrate supporting the plurality of activation elements. The method also activates the at least one suit bundle to move the prosthetic.

Actuators typically are mechanical devices that are used for moving or controlling a mechanism, system or the like and typically convert energy into some type of motion. Examples of actuators can be found in any number of applications encountered in everyday life including automotive, aviation, construction, farming, factories, robots, health care and prosthetics, among other areas.
Mobile robotics and advanced prosthetics will likely play important roles in the future of the human race. Actuators frequently are used in these applications that enable movement of a robot or user arm or other appendage or item as desired.
Most existing mobile robots and advanced prosthetics, however, lack the strength and speed necessary to be effective. This is because they suffer from poor specific power (strength×speed/weight) which determines how quickly work can be done compared to another actuator of the same weight.
For example, if such devices are capable of lifting significant weight, they must do so very slowly, which inhibits their adoption for most applications. On the other hand, devices that can move more quickly are just not capable of handling anything more than the smallest weight.
Hydraulic and pneumatic power systems can be used with such actuators, among other power systems. Pneumatic power systems, however, have a relatively low operating pressure, which limits the amount of force they can impart and exhibit poor controllability due to the compressible nature of air, among other drawbacks.
Additionally, conventional hydraulics technology suffers from poor efficiency, noisy operation, high cost and maintenance challenges among other problems. These and other problems inhibit the use of hydraulics in many applications.


An Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) excitation light source has a beam guide device for manipulating at least one laser beam is provided. The beam guide device comprises at least one beam splitter for generating at least two separated beams from at least one laser beam, at least one mirror or a lens for manipulating at least one of the separated beams, a superposition mirror for superposing the at least two separated beams, and a focusing appliance for generating a respective focus for each of the at least two separated beams. At least two focuses can be generated at one identical location or at two different locations by the beam guide device.

Document WO 2011/162903 shows a laser exciting a target material in an appropriate manner to operate as an Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) excitation light source. For improving the efficiency of the generation of the EUV light droplets of the target material are struck by a so-called "pre-pulse" and are enlarged, converted into a gas, vaporized or converted into weak plasma. Then the target material prepared by the pre-pulse is converted into plasma by a so-called main-pulse" and emits EUV light. Typically, different lasers are used as light sources for the pre-pulse and for the main-pulse which are introduced into a common amplifier on a common beam path.
The different lasers can also emit light having different wavelengths, wherein, when using several lasers, the laser beams with the different wavelengths are focused on focuses on an axis of the laser beam in different distances due to chromatic aberrations.

EUV excitation light source with a laser beam source and a beam guide device for manipulating the laser beam

TRUMPF Lasersystems for Semiconductor Manufacturing GmbH


The present invention includes a method and apparatus for decomposing and verifying configurable hardware. In one embodiment, the method includes automatically decomposing a set of one or more units at a first level of a configurable hardware system design hierarchy into a set of two or more units of a lower level of the hardware system design hierarchy. The set of one or more units at a first level includes one or more units dynamically instantiated at design creation time as well as at least a first unit composed of a previously instantiated hardware system composed with two or more levels of units within the hardware system design hierarchy of the previously instantiated hardware system.

"Configurable hardware" or "parameterized hardware" describes hardware systems that are customized automatically at design creation time by using specified values for a set of parameters or attributes. Such hardware may also support changes at run-time depending on parameter settings. Configurable hardware systems typically provide better performance than software running on a general-purpose computer system and greater flexibility than conventional application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) without increasing circuit size and cost.
In conventional hardware systems, it is necessary to verify a system's functionality by testing the system and its components. Typically, the complexity of verifying a system's functionality increases with the number of components that make up the system. Therefore, the conventional approach is to manually verify each unit individually and then to assemble the "known good units" into a system. If hardware is hierarchically arranged, verification must be performed for each level in the hierarchy. If each individual unit has been verified before assembling the system, verifying system functionality can focus on potential problems with interactions between components rather than on each component's capabilities.
Configurable hardware systems can be verified using this type of conventional hierarchical decomposition. However, because each instance of a configurable hardware system is different, each time a configuration parameter is modified, the system and its components must be manually verified. The cost of repeatedly manually verifying a system and its components often offsets the advantages of configurable hardware.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for decomposing and verifying configurable hardware


A method and a system for monitoring and determining preceding states of at least one terminal of an automation system are provided. The automation system includes one or more terminals (1, 2), each of which can assume two or more states and each of which outputs a monitoring message that depends on the two or more states, and a control unit (3) that reads in the monitoring message from the one or more terminals (1, 2). Each of the one or more terminals (1, 2) outputs another monitoring message only after it has received an acknowledgment signal (Q) from the control unit (3). In order to be able, even subsequently, to reconstruct at least some of the preceding state changes, the monitoring message contains, in addition to each state value, at least one additional component (S1_Z, S2_Z; S1_OV, S2_OV) whose value is changed during a transition of the state value and which is reset to an initial value when a monitoring message is output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for monitoring an automation system with a control unit and a plurality of terminals. In particular, the present invention relates to the reliable detection of a plurality of signal changes in a monitoring message between a terminal and a control unit in an automation system by monitoring and determining preceding states of one or more terminals of an automation system.
2. Description of Related Art
In automation systems with a plurality of terminals (also referred to as programmable controllers) and control units (also referred to as control and monitoring stations or operator stations) events are mapped to binary signals. The terminals detect signal changes (level-triggered changes) and use a monitoring message to report them to one or more control units. The control unit processes the reported signal level.
In the prior art, when a first message reporting a signal change is sent from the terminal, a second message cannot be sent until the control unit has confirmed that it has received the first message. The contents of the second message, for example, can indicate that the signal has changed again. The control unit confirms the receipt of a message by sending an acknowledgment message, for example.
If a single signal is reported in a monitoring message, the last two signal changes may be detected in the prior art systems. The last two signal changes may be detected by:
a) providing additional "overflow" information in the monitoring message indicating that one or more signal changes could not be reported; b) receiving a message with the identical signal state as the signal, stored in the control unit, indicating the last current state detected by the terminal.
To increase the capacity of the event log and to use system resources more effectively, monitoring messages which contain more than one signal, e.g., eight signals, are used. The additional information in the form of overflow flags in the monitoring message and the fact that a message has been received represents a 1:n relation if there is a number of signals. An allocation of the additional information in the overflow flag and of the event "receipt of a monitoring message" to a single signal or several signals is no longer possible. It is therefore useless for general signal tracing. The information available in the monitoring message is reduced instead to the respective signal state; a change in the meantime from the initial to a second state and back again is not detected.
In other words, conventional techniques cannot provide the control unit with accurate state changes of a signal detected by a terminal. The control unit cannot receive accurate state changes of the signal at least in part because of the undetected state changes that occur during the transmission of the monitoring message from the terminal to the control unit. That is, when more than one state change of the signal occurs during the transmission of the monitoring message, these intermediate state changes are not reported to the control unit. Instead, these intermediate state changes are unnoticed by the control unit.

Method for monitoring an automation system


A method and server for determining a creation time of a target page is disclosed. A page network of a plurality of pages including the target page and a plurality of links therebetween is created. Each page is a source or destination page for at least one link. Each page has a creation time and a creation time parameter. An initial value is assigned to the creation time parameter for each page. The creation time parameter of the target page is varied to maximize a page network probability which is based on a link probability for each link which is based at least in part on a difference between the creation time parameters of the source and destination pages thereof. The creation time of the target page is determined to be the value of the creation time parameter thereof which maximizes the page network probability.

A vast quantity of information is available via the internet. The available information includes a variety of content types, such as photos, video, audio and the like, and relates to a wide range of topics, such as but not limited to news, weather, traffic, entertainment, finance and the like. Existing web pages are continually being updated to include new information, and new web pages including new information are continually being created and accessed via the internet.
The information can be accessed using a wide range of electronic devices such as desktop computers, laptop computers, smartphones, tablets and the like. A user may either navigate to a particular web site directly by using the address for that web resource that she is wishing to access. For example, when the user wishes to do her on-line banking with the Royal Bank of Canada, the user may know to access the web site www.rbc.com. In other circumstances, the user looking for information may not be aware of a particular web resource or a location thereof where the information can be found, and may instead perform a web search using a search engine, such as YANDEX, GOOGLE, YAHOO! or the like. As is known, the user enters a search query and the search engine provides a list of web resources that are responsive to the search query in what is known as a Search Engine Results Page or SERP, for short.
In order to enable fast, efficient retrieval of information via the internet, it is often important to know when a web resource is created. Creation time of web resources is often used in a variety of tasks related to information retrieval, such as web crawler scheduling, ranking of search results, sorting of search results and the like. Therefore, there is a need for a method and system for accurately determining the creation time for web resources.

Method of and system for determining creation time of a web resource


An air displacement pipette having axially spaced annular sealing and substantially cylindrical lateral support zones and regions on the pipette's mounting shaft and tip, respectively, in combination with structure for insuring uniform depth of mounting shaft penetration into the pipette tip to maintain uniform tip interference with the mounting shaft as successive tips are mounted on and ejected from the mounting shaft whereby the pipette tip is easily and firmly mountable on and easily ejectable from the pipette tip mounting shaft by the application of axial mounting and ejection forces of about two pounds and one pound, respectively.

The present invention relates to improvements in pipettes and, more particularly, to air displacement pipettes including a novel mounting shaft and a unique pipette tip tailored to the mounting shaft such that the tip is easily insertable by a pipette user onto the shaft to a fluid tight position in which the tip is secured against undesired lateral rocking on or displacement from the shaft and, after use, is easily ejectable from the shaft by the pipette user; such tip insertion and ejection requiring the pipette user to only exert axial tip insertion and ejection forces of about one pound or less thereby substantially eliminating all risk of repetitive motion injury to the pipette user.
The use of pipette devices for the transfer and dispensing of precise quantities of fluids in analytical systems is well known as is the use of disposable tip members for such pipettes. Disposable tips accommodate the serial use of such pipette devices in the transfer of different fluids without carryover or contamination.
Generally speaking, disposable pipette tips are formed of a plastic material and are of a hollow, elongated, generally conical shape with an open proximal end for receiving and releasably mating with the distal end of an elongated generally conical pipette tip mounting shaft of a pipette device. Ideally, the disposable tip should slide easily onto the mounting shaft to an axial position adjacent a lower end of a tip ejection mechanism of the pipette device. Thus located, the pipette tip should be laterally stable on the shaft, free from external rocking relative to the shaft (as during "touching off"), and should form a fluid tight annular seal with the mounting shaft. Then when it is desired to replace the tip with a new tip, the pipette tip should be easily removed from the mounting shaft by operation of the tip ejection mechanism.
To meet the desired sealing criteria for disposable pipette tips on pipette tip mounting shafts, the inner surface and side walls of the proximal portions of most pipette tips are axially tapered at a one to one and a half degree greater angle than the distal end of the pipette tip mounting shaft and form an axially elongated frusto-conical annular sealing band. The sealing band is dimensioned to stretch outwardly ("hoop stretch") as the distal end of the elongated generally conical pipette tip mounting shaft is forced into the proximal end of the tip to firmly seat the tip on the shaft and to create an axially elongated annular fluid tight seal between the sealing band and the mounting shaft. Other pipette tips, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,748,859 and 4,824,641, include a plurality of axially spaced compressible annular sealing rings on an inner surface of the proximal end portion of such tips. The rings create multiple axially spaced fluid tight annular seals between the outer surface of the pipette tip mounting shaft and the inner surface of the proximal end portion of the tip which by virtue of the axially spaced rings is laterally stabilized against undesired rocking on the shaft during touching off.
Usually, in mounting a pipette tip on a mounting shaft of a pipette, a user, exerting a downward force of between twelve and fifteen pounds, drives the mounting shaft axially into the tip a distance which to the user seems sufficient to create (i) a fluid tight seal between the tip and (ii) the desired lateral stability for the tip on the shaft. On occasion, in a mistaken attempt to improve the lateral stability of a pipette tip on a mounting shaft, a user will exert a downward insertion force (e.g. eighteen to twenty-five pounds) on the shaft sufficient to axially drive the tip on the shaft until an upper surface of the tip engages or is wedged into the ejector arm or cone of the tip ejector mechanism of the pipette. The contact between a lower surface of the tip ejector arm or cone and the upper surface of the tip, however, only provides a minimal resistance to rocking of the tip on the shaft and hence only results in a minimal increase in the lateral stability of the tip on the shaft. Further, since most pipette tips are formed of a relatively rigid plastic material, the annular stretching of the pipette tip required to accommodate movement of the tip onto the shaft particularly to a point where it engages the lower surface of the tip ejector or cone is difficult to achieve. In fact, the axial forces which must be exerted on a conventional pipette to achieve such a positioning of the tip on the pipette tip mounting shaft exceed twelve and may be as great as twenty pounds, which is difficult for many pipette tip users to generate. Of course, with most pipette tip designs, the greater the axial force exerted in seating a pipette tip on a pipette mounting shaft, the greater the force required to eject the tip from the mounting shaft. Thus, while the insertion of a pipette tip onto a mounting shaft until it reaches a position against a lower surface of a pipette tip ejector mechanism provides a minimum increase in the lateral stability of the tip on the shaft, it works against the design criteria for disposable pipette tips that they be easily removable from the shaft when it is desired to replace the tip.
In fact, the design criteria for disposable pipette tips that they be stably mountable on and form a fluid tight seal with a pipette mounting shaft is more easily achieved than the design criteria that disposable pipette tips slide easily onto a pipette tip mounting shaft to an axial location forming a fluid tight seal and then be easily removable from the mounting shaft when it is desired to replace the tip.
In these regards, the pipette tip mounting shafts of devices for pipetting volumes of liquid in different ranges have different external shape. For example, the distal end of standard pipette tip mounting shafts of pipettes for pipetting liquids in volumes greater than 500 microliters (large volume pipettes) commonly have a downward and inward axial taper of about one and one half to two and one half degrees per side from the longitudinal axis of the mounting shaft. On the other hand, the distal end of the mounting shafts of moderate to relatively small volume pipette devices (250 microliters and less) commonly have a downward and inward axial taper of about two to five degrees per side from the longitudinal axis of the mounting shaft so that the nose of the shaft will hit the inner wall of the pipette tip and cause hoop stretching thereof before the side of the shaft engages the inner wall of the tip. Therefore, while the design criteria that a large volume pipette tip be easily mountable on and easily removable from the mounting shaft of a large volume pipette device may be achieved by including a proximal end portion having a side wall of reduced wall thickness as in the large volume pipette tip described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,984, issued Jul. 14, 1998, such a thin wall design will not result in a pipette tip that satisfies the easy mount and ejection design criteria of moderate and small volume pipette tips which must firmly mount on pipette tip mounting shafts having an inward taper of two degrees and above. The same is true of the pipette tip design disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,330 which includes a frusto-conical sealing region having a thin side wall.
As previously stated, standard small and moderate volume pipette tips include a frusto-conical annular sealing band or inner surface for engaging and sealing with the tapered distal end of a pipette tip mounting shaft. The angle of taper of the sealing surface usually approximates (e.g. one and one-half degrees greater than) that of the mounting shaft (e.g. two to five degrees). Thinning the side wall of the standard small and moderate volume pipette tips in the region of such a sealing band does little to reduce the mounting and ejection forces required to move such a tip to a sealing location and then eject the pipette tip from the mounting shaft. In forming the desired annular seal, the frusto-conical annular region is required to stretch like a hoop (hoop stretch) outwardly normal to the mating sloping surface of the pipette tip mounting shaft. Large reactive forces in the tip material resist such hoop stretching and require the exertion of large axial forces (eg. ten or more pounds) on the tip in order to mount the tip on the mounting shaft and create the necessary annular fluid tight seal. Such reactive forces increase as the tip is driven toward the tip ejection mechanism of the associated pipette device.
Further, disposable pipette tips are commonly mounted and stored in sterilizable racks. Such racks commonly include a support tray having an array of holes for receiving distal ends of pipette tips to vertically orient the pipette tips in a spaced rectilinear pattern with open proximal ends of the tips exposed to receive the mounting shafts of a pipette device onto which the pipette tips are to be mounted. For example, to mount the disposable pipette tips contained in a tip rack on the shafts of a multi-channel pipette, the pipette device is placed over the rack with its several mounting shafts aligned with the open proximal ends of an aligned series of the pipette tips. After a slight initial insertion of the mounting shafts into the open proximal ends of the aligned pipette tips, a relatively large downward force is exerted on the pipette device to drive the mounting shafts into the tip members. The pipette tips are thus very firmly seated on the mounting shafts and are lifted from the rack with upward movement of the multi-channel pipette. Unfortunately, in practice, such multiple pipette tip mounting procedures often result in some of the pipette tips being mounted at different axial locations on some of the mounting shafts. In an attempt to eliminate such non-uniform mounting of pipette tips on the several channels of a multi channel pipette, users often rock the pipette as the mounting shafts are driven by axial forces approximating 12 to 15 pound per channel into the tips supported by a pipette tip rack to drive the tips toward the lower surface of the tip ejector mechanism of the pipette.
Moreover, the more firmly a tip is mounted or wedged on the mounting shaft of the pipette device, the greater the axial force which a pipette user must generate by thumb and hand action to eject the tip from the shaft when a tip replacement is desired. In practice, it is not uncommon for axial forces approximating ten pounds per pipette channel to be generated by the pipette users thumb and hand in driving a tip from a mounting shaft. Over several and repeated ejection operations, particularly with multi-channel pipettes where the generation of substantially greater axial forces is required, the thumb and hand of the user become physically stressed often resulting in repetitive stress injury to the thumb and hand and in extreme cases, carpal tunnel syndrome.
Still further, standard pipette tips as well as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,330 depend solely upon the sealing region of the pipette tip to both create the annular fluid tight seal and to provide the stable lateral mounting of the tip to the shaft sufficient to resist rocking as during touching off. The structure of such pipette tips do not provide such lateral mounting stability and but for those rare instances where the tips are jammed upward against the bottom of the pipette tip ejector arm or cone, minimal lateral stability of the tip on the shaft is achieved.
In an effort to improve lateral stability and retention of pipette tips on the mounting shafts of some pipettes, some manufacturers include O-rings on and encircling the tip mounting shafts of their pipettes. For example, the Brinkmann Instrument Co. indicates for its Transferpipette 8/12 that such O-rings ensure that all tips stay firmly mounted during use. However, there is a rapid wearing of such O-rings with repeated insertion of the associated mounting shafts into and ejection of pipette tips from such shafts. With such wear, the tips no longer stay firmly mounted during use and wear particles from the O-rings can contaminate fluid samples handled by the associated pipettes.
In an effort to reduce the hand and finger forces which a pipette user must generate to eject a tip from the mounting shaft of a pipette, other pipette manufacturers such as LabSystems have developed and include in some of their pipettes gear and ratchet mechanisms for amplifying the user generated forces to eject pipette tips from their mounting shafts. Unfortunately, such mechanisms are costly and add undesired size and weight to the pipettes.
More recently, to meet the previously described ideal characteristics and criteria for a pipette tip, there has been developed an improved plastic pipette tip which is mountable on and ejectable from a standard pipette mounting shaft of an air displacement pipette by application of an axial mounting force of less than six pounds and an axial ejection force as small as three pounds. The improved pipette tip is described in the concurrently filed U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 09/188,030, entitled "Easy Eject Pipette Tip". As there described, to meet the mountability and ease of ejection criteria for disposable pipette tips, the improved pipette tip, hereinafter referred to as the "Soft Seal" tip, includes an open tubular proximal end portion comprising an enlarged frusto-conical open top tapering downwardly and inwardly to join at an annular sealing region to a hollow substantially cylindrical mid-portion of the pipette tip. The open top has an inner diameter sufficient to axially receive the distal end of a standard pipette tip mounting shaft. The annular sealing region is formed by the transition or line of connection of the frusto-conical open top to the mid-portion of the pipette and includes an annular sidewall having a thickness in a range of 0.20 to 0.50 mm. The mid-portion has an inner diameter at the sealing region which is less than the diameter of the pipette mounting shaft, a thin resilient annular side wall having a thickness in a range of 0.20 to 0.50 mm and an axial length in a range of 0.25 to 0.65 cm. Thus, while the distal end of the mounting shaft fits into the enlarged open end of the pipette tip, the frusto-conical outer surface of the mounting shaft engages the inner surface of the sealing region at the bottom of the open top of the pipette tip to stretch the annular sealing region or line radially outward as the mounting shaft is inserted into the proximal portion, thereby creating a fluid tight seal between the sealing zone and the sealing region. In addition to the proximal portion, the improved pipette tip includes a tubular distal portion extending from the mid-portion and terminating in a relatively narrow distal end opening for passing fluid into and from the tip upon operation of the pipette device. Finally, the improved pipette tip preferably includes lateral stabilizing means on its inner surface adjacent the sealing region for engaging the outer surface of the mounting shaft as it is inserted into the proximal portion to laterally stabilize the tip on the shaft. Such lateral stabilizing means preferably comprises at least three circumferentially spaced contacts extending inwardly from the inner surface of the proximal portion of the tip adjacent the sealing region for engaging the outer surface of the mounting shaft as it is inserted into the proximal portion to laterally stabilize the tip on the shaft. In this regard, the diametric spacing of the contacts is such that the contacts lightly engage and allow the distal end of the shaft to pass with no hoop stretching of the sidewalls from which the contacts extend. In this manner, the contacts combine with the sealing region to provide lateral support for the pipette tip on the mounting shaft and prevent the pipette tip from moving laterally when lateral external forces are exerted on the distal portion of the tip as during touching off.
While the improved pipette tip as described above represents a substantial improvement over standard pipette tips with respect to the axial forces which are required to mount the tip on and eject the tip from a pipette mounting shaft, there is a continuing need to still further reduce the risk of repetitive motion injuries to pipette users and a continuing desire to further minimize the axial forces which are required to stably mount a pipette tip on and eject a pipette tip from a pipette mounting shaft. The present invention satisfies that need.

Pipette with improved pipette tip and mounting shaft


An electronic apparatus including a plurality of sensors, an application processor, and a micro-processor is provided. The plurality of sensors is configured to generate at least one sensing signal. The application processor is configured to execute an application procedure according to a sensing-merged signal. The micro-processor is coupled between the plurality of sensors and the application processor, and is configured to generate the sensing-merged signal according to the at least one sensing signal. By utilizing the electronic apparatus, not only power can be saved, but also the elasticity for choosing sensor chip vendors can be improved.

Electronic apparatuses, such as a mobile phone, a tablet PC, a PDA, have gradually become popular in human life. In order to save power, an application processor of a common electronic apparatus will set some predetermined conditions to get into a sleep mode. For example, after the electronic apparatus is idle for a period of time, the application processor of the electronic apparatus can get into the sleep mode. When the application processor gets into the sleep mode, the display module (such as a display panel or a touch panel) of the electronic apparatus will be turned off, or the input module will be turned off in order to save power. However, the disadvantage of such configuration is that: a user cannot use finger(s) to slide on the touch panel so as to make the application processor and the mobile phone leave the sleep mode; and the user needs to press a physical button to wake up the application processor in order to enable the touch panel, and thus the user can use finger(s) to slide on the touch panel to unlock the electronic apparatus in order to leave the sleep model, which makes the user inconvenient. Moreover, the application processor can process sensing signals only when it is in a wake-up status. That is to say, the application processor always needs to stay in the wake-up status in order to process sensing signals, which will waste more power consumption.

Electronic apparatus capable of being waked up through detecting motions


A method of controlling a vehicle driving system having differential gear including an input shaft, an outlet shaft and a reactionary shaft, a flywheel, an engine, the flywheel and the engine being interlocked with the input shaft, an output shaft interlocked with the outlet shaft, a first motor generator (MG) interlocked with the reactionary shaft and a second MG adapted to receive the output electric power of the first MG as input. If the indicated torque of the output shaft as indicated by the pedaled quantity of the accelerator pedal is T2 and a torque of the reactionary shaft is Trd, while a power transmission efficiency from the input shaft to the reactionary shaft by way of the differential gear, a power transmission efficiency from the input shaft to the output shaft by way of the differential gear and a power transmission efficiency from the reactionary shaft to the output shaft by way of the first MG and the second MG are respectively ηmr, ηmo and ηe, a critical speed ratio of the differential gear, a rotational speed of the output shaft and that of the flywheel are respectively ec, N2 and Nf, the torque Trd is determined by the relation ofTrd=(ec−1)×T2×ηmr/[{ηmo−(ηmr×ηe)}+{(ec×Nf/N2)×ηmr×ηe}]and generation of electric power of the first MG is controlled so as to cause the reactionary shaft to produce the torque Trd.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of controlling a vehicle driving system adapted to accumulate power output intermittently from a thermal engine in a flywheel as rotational energy and only a necessary part of the accumulated energy is taken out to the output shaft of a power dividing type power transmission unit. The present invention also relates to a vehicle driving apparatus for driving a vehicle driving system by means of such a control method. Thermal engines to which the present invention is applicable include internal-combustion engines and external-combustion engines. Generally, power dividing type power transmission unit comprises a power dividing mechanism, which may be a type using a motor generator where both an inner rotor and an outer rotor rotate or a type where an ordinary motor generator is connected to the reactionary shaft of a differential gear.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known methods of controlling a vehicle driving system of the type under consideration include a control method of accumulating energy in a flywheel and driving a vehicle as disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-020970. The method disclosed in the above cited patent document can be realized by using a drive unit as illustrated in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, the drive unit comprises an engine 1, which is an internal-combustion engine, a flywheel 3, a power dividing type power transmission unit 21 and a control unit 27. The control unit 27 typically includes a CPU (central processing unit), a computer equipped with a memory and a power control unit. The signal Acc that is input to the control unit 27 is a signal that corresponds to the pedaled quantity of the accelerator pedal operated by the driver of the vehicle.
The output shaft 1a of the engine 1 is interlocked with the drive shaft 3a of the flywheel 3 by way of a multiplying device (e.g., a speed-up gear) 1A, a drive shaft 1b and a clutch 2. For the purpose of the present invention, the expression of "interlocked" refers to a state where two rotary members are driven to rotate integrally by way of a drive shaft or a state where two rotary members are linked to each other and driven to rotate by way of a power transmission system of a type or another. Examples of mode where two rotary members are linked to each other and driven to rotate by way of a power transmission system of a type or another include a state where they are linked by a gear and a chain and a state where they are linked by a clutch. In FIG. 1, the multiplying device 1A is not indispensable and the output shaft 1a may be directly linked to the drive shaft 1b.
The power dividing type power transmission unit 21 is realized as an electric type power dividing gear box that includes a first motor generator 4, an output shaft 6 and a second motor generator 5. The first motor generator 4 has an outer rotor 4A, an inner rotor 4B, an input shaft 4a and an outlet shaft 4b, of which the input shaft 4a is interlocked with the outer rotor 4A while the outlet shaft 4b is interlocked with the inner rotor 4B. The outer rotor 4A is interlocked with the flywheel 3 by way of the input shaft 4a. The inner rotor 4B is interlocked with the output shaft 6 by way of the outlet shaft 4b. The output shaft 6 is interlocked with the drive wheels 20, 20 of a vehicle. The pedaled quantity Acc input to the control unit 27 is a signal that operates as a command given by the driver to the control unit 27 to set the level of the torque of the output shaft 6.
The first motor generator 4 and the second motor generator 5 are connected to each other by way of the control unit 27 so that the electric power generated by the first motor generator 4 can be transmitted to the second motor generator 5 by way of the control unit 27. The second motor generator 5 is interlocked with the output shaft 6 by way of a drive shaft 5a and gears 5b and 5c. Note, however, that the second motor generator 5 may alternatively be linked directly to the output shaft 6 without using the gears 5b and 5c.
Referring to FIG. 1, when the engine 1 is driven to operate and the clutch 2 is held in an engaged condition, the output torque Te of the engine 1 is converted to torque Te/i at the drive shaft 1b, the clutch 2 and the drive shaft 3a due to the existence of the speedup ratio i of the multiplying device 1A. In other words, when the engine 1 is driven to operate, the torque Te/i of the drive shaft 3a drives the flywheel 3 to accelerate the rotational motion of the latter and causes the first motor generator 4 to operate as generator. On the other hand, when the engine 1 is not driven to operate, the first motor generator 4 is driven to operate as generator only by the rotational energy of the flywheel 3.
When the first motor generator 4 is operating as generator, torque T1i is produced at the input shaft 4a of the motor generator 4 and reaction torque T1i having a magnitude same as the toque of the input shaft 4a is produced at the outlet shaft 4b regardless if the engine 1 is in operation or not. The torque T1i produced at the outlet shaft 4b mechanically straightly drives the output shaft 6.
In principle, all the electric power generated by the first motor generator 4 is supplied to the second motor generator 5 and the second motor generator 5 is driven to operate as motor by the electric power so that the mechanical power produced by the second motor generator 5 that is operating as motor by turn drives the output shaft 6 by way of the gears 5b and 5c. The mode of control in which "all" the electric power generated by the first motor generator 4 is supplied to the second motor generator 5 is referred to as "basic control" hereinafter.
Of the mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1, the part of the power transmission system 21 from the input shaft 4a to the output shaft 6 is adapted to operate as power dividing type power transmission unit where the power output from the engine 1 is once divided into powers of different states of energy by the first motor generator 4 (a mechanical state and an electric state in the instance of FIG. 1) and the mechanical power obtained at the outlet shaft 4b by the division and the electric power are put together at the output shaft 6. Such a power dividing type power transmission unit is already known.
In the flywheel energy accumulation/driving system of FIG. 1 having the above described configuration, the relationship of formula (a) shown below needs to be established for the engine 1 to operate to generate torque Te/i at the drive shaft 3a and drive the flywheel 3 to rotate and accelerate the rotational speed thereof:Tf=(Te/i)−T1i>0  (a),where Tf is the acceleration torque of the flywheel 3.
Additionally, the relationship of formula (b) shown below is required for the torque T1i of the input shaft 4a in the formula (a) above:T1i=T2/[1+{(Nf/N2)−1}×ηe]  (b),where T2 is the torque indicated to the output shaft 6 and Nf is the rotational speed of the flywheel 3 while N2 is the rotational speed of the output shaft 6 and ηe is the power transmission efficiency that is observed when the mechanical input power for driving the motor generator 4 to generate electricity is converted into electric power once in the motor generator 4 and turned back to mechanical power by the motor generator 5, which is then transmitted to the output shaft 6.
The above formulas (a) and (b) are stored in the memory of the control unit 27 and used for arithmetic operations by the CPU whenever necessary. The control unit 27 operates for the above-defined basic control according to the outcome of the arithmetic operations. More specifically, the efficiency ηe is experimentally determined in advance and the rotational speed Nf of the flywheel 3 and the rotational speed N2 of the output shaft 6 are detected in advance while the vehicle is running. Then, as the torque T2 of the output shaft 6 is indicated by means of the accelerator pedal, the, value of the input torque T1i of the input shaft 4a for causing the motor generator 4 to generate electricity is determined from the formula (b) and then used to substitute the input torque T1i of the formula (a). Then, the engine 1 is operated to meet the requirement of the formula (a). Since Te=0 when the engine 1 is not operated, the flywheel torque Tf in the formula (a) is Tf<0. The rotational speed Nf of the flywheel 3 is being decelerated in such a situation.
When the driver of the vehicle controls the moving speed of the vehicle by operating the accelerator pedal, he or she is only required to indicate the torque T2 of the output shaft 6 regardless if the engine 1 is in operation or not. Then, the control unit 27 sets the power generating torque of the motor generator 4 to T1i according to the indication of the torque T2, using the formula (b).
When the rotational energy accumulated in the flywheel 3 becomes insufficient as a result of that the output shaft 6 is driven to rotate only by the rotational energy of the flywheel 3 without operating the engine 1 with the above described basic control, the clutch 2 is then linked to accumulate rotational energy in the flywheel 3 by the engine 1 according to the above formula (a), while continuing the operation of driving the output shaft 6,

Method of controlling vehicle driving system and vehicle driving apparatus


The optical deflector includes a deflector, a vibration detector, a driving signal generator, a modulation timing signal generator, and a deflection detector. The deflector has a vibrational system having a movable body with a light deflecting member, and deflects light from a light source by the movable body. The vibration detector detects the vibration condition of the vibrational system of the deflector. The driving signal generator generates a driving signal for driving the vibrational system of the deflector. The modulation timing signal generator generates a modulation timing signal as the reference time for regulating the amount of light from the light source. The deflection detector detects the deflection condition of light deflected by the deflector. The driving signal generator generates the driving signal based on information of the vibration condition detected by the vibration detector, and the modulation timing signal generator generates the modulation timing signal based on information of the deflection condition detected by the deflection detector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical deflector that includes a deflector provided with a vibrational system having a movable body with a light deflecting member, and deflects light from a light source by the movable body. Further, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using the optical deflector.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional optical deflector, a galvano-mirror as illustrated in FIG. 8 has been proposed. See also JP 07-175005 A. This galvano-mirror is driven with an electromagnetic force. In the galvano-mirror, a mirror 56 is provided on a movable plate 53, and the movable plate 53 is supported by a silicon substrate 50 through torsion springs 54. The movable plate 53 can be tilted about an axis defined by the torsion springs 54 in a reciprocating manner. A driver for driving the movable plate 53 is comprised of a flat coil 55 and permanent magnets 60 to 63. The optical deflector is accordingly of an electromagnetic type in which a current is caused to flow through the flat coil 55, and the Lorentz force for driving the movable plate 53 is generated due to the current flowing through the flat coil 55 and the magnetic flux generated by the magnets 60 to 63. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 51 designates an upper-side glass substrate, reference numeral 52 designates a lower-side glass substrate, and reference numeral 57 designates an electrode terminal.
As another conventional optical deflector, an actuator of the same electromagnetic type including a movable body with a reflective mirror has been proposed. See, e.g., JP 2001-305471 A. This electromagnetic actuator has been devised for overcoming the following disadvantageous phenomena. In general, the resonance frequency of an electromagnetic actuator is liable to drift due to a change in temperature, or with time. Accordingly, where a modulating current at a preset resonance frequency continues to be supplied to the flat coil, the maximum tilt angle of the movable body cannot be stably maintained for the reasons described above. In this conventional optical deflector, therefore, the electromagnetic actuator is designed to achieve an appropriate reciprocating rotation of the movable body at the resonance frequency, or an appropriate regulation of the maximum tilt angle of the movable body, without using an additional detecting portion. Further, proposed in this conventional optical deflector is a signal generator for generating a resonance frequency signal corresponding to the resonance frequency of the electromagnetic actuator.
To achieve these objects, the coil in the conventional optical deflector is used for the detector as well as for the driver for driving the movable body. For the detection, voltage or current induced in the coil is employed. Information of the time at which the actuator passes a certain tilt or deflection angle is detected based on the voltage or current induced in the coil serving as the detector.
However, where the optical deflector as disclosed in JP 2001-305471 A is used for deflecting a light beam modulated according to an image signal, there is a possibility that the temperature of the optical deflector varies depending on contents of the image signal. Thus, the motion of the light deflection fluctuates, and the quality of the image formed is likely to decrease. To improve the quality of the image, therefore, it would be helpful to correct the motion of the light deflection in accordance with a modulation rate of the image signal.


An image pickup apparatus enabling release time lag reduction. A first holder holds a first mirror and is movable between a first position in an optical path and a second position retracted from the optical path. A second holder holding a second mirror in a state rotatably attached to the first holder is movable between a third position in the optical path and a fourth position retracted from the optical path. An MPU causes an mirror drive unit to rotate the second holder in the third position toward the first holder in the first position, after termination of focus detection when the first and second holder are in the first and third positions, respectively, and before image pickup is instructed, to thereby move the second holder to a fifth position closer to the first holder than the third position is.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, such as a single-lens reflex camera, and more particularly to a technique for controlling the operation and driving of a quick return mirror, such as correction control of an output value from a photometric unit in driving the quick return mirror, and a technique for controlling the operation of the quick return mirror in strobe photographing.
Description of the Related Art
An image pickup apparatus, such as a single-lens reflex camera, is provided with a quick return mirror mechanism including a main mirror holder for holding a main mirror formed by a half mirror, and a sub mirror holder that holds a sub mirror and is rotatably supported with respect to the main mirror holder. The quick return mirror mechanism enters a photographing optical path (mirror down) to guide an object light flux having passed through a photographing optical system to a viewfinder optical system during viewfinder observation, and retracts from the photographing optical path (mirror up) to guide an object light flux to an image pickup device during photographing. Further, during viewfinder observation, the quick return mirror mechanism reflects an object light flux having passed through the main mirror by the sub mirror to guide the reflected object light flux to a focus detection unit (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H09-274249).
For an image pickup apparatus of this type, there has been conventionally proposed a technique that changes an exit angle of light guided to a focus detection optical system to thereby make it possible to perform focus detection in a desired wide range in a vertical direction and a horizontal direction within a photographing range (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-83402).
The object light flux guided to the viewfinder optical system is divided into two light fluxes by a pentaprism, one of which is guided to an eyepiece lens, and the other of which is guided to a photometry sensor for photometry measurement. When the mirror unit is in the mirror-up position, an object light flux having passed through the photographing optical system is guided to an imaging surface of the image pickup device, and is photoelectrically converted.
Further, for strobe photographing, there has been proposed a technique in which preliminary light emission is performed when the main mirror is in a predetermined position, and a light emission amount for final light emission is determined based on a result of photometry by the photometry sensor during the preliminary light emission, so as to perform the final light emission for photographing (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-322895).
However, the mechanism disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H09-274249 has the configuration in which the sub mirror holder is pulled up by the main mirror holder in the mirror-up operation, and hence the inertia force of the sub mirror holder acts when the main mirror holder performs the mirror-up operation. For this reason, there is a limit to the speed of the mirror-up operation, and the limit prevents reduction of the release time lag.
On the other hand, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-83402 has a problem that when a sufficient amount of light is to be guided to the focus detection optical system, the amount of light guided to the viewfinder optical system is reduced, which brings about a problem of a dark finder image. Further, in a case where part of a light flux guided to the viewfinder optical system is used for photometry by the photometry sensor, the accuracy of photometry is lowered particularly under a low luminance environment.
Further, the main mirror of the mirror unit is generally formed by a half mirror because it is necessary to guide a light flux to the focus detection unit. For this reason, the light amount of the light flux reflected to the viewfinder optical system is reduced by an amount of the light flux which reaches the main mirror and passes therethrough to the sub mirror side when the mirror unit is in the mirror-down position, whereby the amount of light guided to the photometry sensor is also reduced. Therefore, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-322895, to obtain an accurate amount of final strobe light emission for a photographic scene which is dark with a large camera-to-object distance, or the like, it is necessary to increase the light amount of preliminary strobe light emission, which increases power consumption.

Image pickup apparatus including mirror unit and method of controlling the same


An object of the present invention is to provide a linear actuator in which reliability is improved, and performance is also easily improved. The present invention provides a linear actuator including a stator, a movable element having an iron member, and being reciprocatable with respect to the stator, a permanent magnet fixed to the stator so as to be opposed to the iron member, and a coil fixed to the stator. Because both the coil and the permanent magnet are fixed to the stator, electrical current does not have to be supplied to the movable element, and the feeder lines connected to the coil will not be broken due to the movement of the movable element. In addition, the weight of the movable element will not be increased even when the weigh of the permanent magnet is increased in order to obtain high magnetic flux density for improvement in performance. Moreover, because the movable element does not include a magnet, a magnetizing operation does not have to be applied to the movable element. The permanent magnets may be a pair in which the directions the magnetic poles thereof differ from each other, and two pairs of permanent magnets may be provided. The number of magnetic fluxes that run through the magnetic pole elements and the iron member can be increased by providing a magnetic reluctance section around the permanent magnets.

Because linear actuators can be driven with little loss by employing a spring therein for utilizing a resonance phenomenon, they have been used as compressor motors. Because the compressors employing such linear motors exhibit excellent performance such as high efficiency, it is expected that such compressors will be used for refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners.
As a linear actuator, a voice coil motor is known. In the voice coil motor, electrical current is made to flow through a coil within a magnetic field formed by permanent magnets so that a force to drive the voice coil motor is applied to the coil. Such a voice coil motor is referred to as a movable coil type in which a movable element including a coil is moved.
Another type of linear actuator is also known, in which the permanent magnets and the coil are switched with each other in contrast to the above-mentioned movable coil type, and which is referred to as a movable magnet type in which a movable element including a permanent magnet is moved.
In the linear actuator of movable coil type, a problem is encountered in that reliability is inferior because the movable element includes a coil, electrical current must be supplied to the movable element, and feeder lines may be cut due to the movement of the movable element.
In addition, in the linear actuator of movable magnet type, a problem is encountered in that it is difficult to improve performance because the weight of the permanent magnet is increased when high magnetic flux density is to be obtained, and the weight of the movable element is increased.


A wire feeder includes a wire feeder housing that may enclose one or more drive rollers rotatably connected with respect to the wire feeder housing for engaging welding wire. The one or more drive rollers may be adjustable and adapted to drive the welding wire to a welding gun connected to the wire feeder. A drive motor is incorporated for delivering power for rotating the one or more drive rollers. Friction reducing devices, such as bearings, may be utilized and positioned between one or more driver rollers and the housing, where the bearings are electrically non-conducting for preventing the discharge of electrical energy across the bearing surfaces.

Wire feeders, like those used in arc welding applications, convey wire from a continuous feed source to a weld torch. In many instances, the wire is fed from a reel or drum at a rate determined by the operating parameters of the power source. Accordingly, the wire feeder includes a drive motor that delivers the wire at various feed rates. Typically pinch rollers are used to grip the wire pushing, or in certain cases pulling, it toward the work piece. To facilitate smooth operation, bearings may be included that allow the pinch rollers to rotate with reduced friction.
However, it is known that using aluminum as a welding wire is increasing due to its lightweight attributes and corrosion-resistant properties. However, aluminum can present some real challenges. Equipment must be adapted specifically to handle the softer aluminum wire and machine settings that work well with steel wire may not be appropriate. In fact, aluminum wire can easily be damaged by equipment set up for steel wire.
One of the recommended changes is the use of a nylon or Teflon® liner to reduce friction and wire shaving. It is also recommended to substitute a U-shaped groove in the drive rolls, rather than a more traditional V-shaped groove so that there are no sharp edges to shave off the aluminum wire. Also, the tension on the drive roll should be reduced from typical steel settings to prevent crushing the aluminum wire during feeding. Since aluminum expands more than steel as it heats up, the proper-sized hole in the contact thip is larger for aluminum than for steel. Brake tension on the wire spindle should be set more loosely than it would normally be set for steel so that less force is required to pull the wire off the spool.
Because the column strength of aluminum is much less than steel, feeding aluminum wire often requires special feed mechanisms. One way to assist in the feeding of aluminum wire is to use a "push-pull" system which utilizes dual motors: an assist motor that pushes the electrode from the feeder and a primary motor that is located in the gun that pulls the electrode. This type of system offers superior feeding performance of a spool gun with many of the advantages of a compact push system. A push-pull system provides the most uniform feeding and can hold larger spools of wire. The gun can be taken long distances from the power source and does not require the costly 1 lb. spools of the spool gun method and has a comfortable ergonomic gun that fits into tighter places.


Means for preventing contamination of the surgical viewing instrument including a flexible bag mounted on the proximal end of a hollow double walled tubular elongated member concentrically mounted to a borescope or surgical viewing instrument where the space between the walls define a passage for flowing fluid to a cuff or vortex generator disposed at the distal end of the tubular member which defines a discretely configured discharge port for flowing fluid over a lens surface for cleansing and defogging purposes. The lens serves to prevent blood, body fluid and other contaminates from back flowing and contaminating the surgical viewing instrument. A two-piece locking handle may be used to lock the lens cleaning apparatus to the borescope. Another embodiment includes a flexible tube utilized with the cuff.

There are a number of lens cleaning devices that are described in the prior art that are used on endoscopes, resectoscope, fiberscope catheterization devices and the like that provide for means for cleansing the lens. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,163 granted to Oho et al on Sep. 13, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,146 granted to Kawazoe et al on Mar. 18, 1986 disclose apparatus for viewing blood vessels and the like by continuously flowing saline fluid through a passage formed in the endoscope at a flow rate that approximates the blood flow rate. Of particular interest is the lens cleaning means disclosed in these patents which show a pair of passageways that include outlets that flow the saline solution in front of the lens. The outlets serve to orient the flow so that the flow discharging from the outlets of each of these passageways oppose each other and hence, according to this patent, the interaction of the opposing fluids keeps the lens clean.
Also of interest as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,146 , supra, is the spiral passageway for injecting the saline solution with a spiral flow to displace the opaque liquid in the region of observation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,140 granted to Mecca on Sep. 1, 1987 discloses an endoscopic tube with a passageway to route clear liquid to circulate around the endoscopic tube. Again this is another attempt to keep the lens clean.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,855 granted to Baba on Jan. 6, 1987 also discloses an endoscope that includes a tube mounted internally within the endoscope where the end at the distal end is bent approximately 90 degrees and directed toward the lens so as to blow air or water adjacent the observation window in order to keep it clean.
While these lens cleaning means may be satisfactory in certain biological procedures, they are not satisfactory for others. In the application of video-surgery in laporoscopic and arthroscopic procedures, for example, we have found that creating a film of cleaning fluid to form over the lens surface is a far more satisfactory method of keeping the lens clean or defogged, if it fogs up. In certain instances, injection of the fluid, which may be either water or carbon dioxide, intermittently as needed has proven to be a satisfactory method of keeping the lens clean and defogged.
This instrument employs a radial cavity with either partial or full circumferential flow directed over the surface of the lens or lens cover. In other embodiments this invention contemplates incorporating a vortex generator circumferentially mounted around the lens. This invention also contemplates incorporating a judiciously mounted fluid conveying passage integrated within the sheath surrounding the flexible types of medical instruments.
As is well known, it is time consuming and hence, expensive to have to sterilize the camera before each use. There is a need to re-use the camera for the next operation, but in heretofore scenarios, it is necessary to re-sterilize the camera before it is reused. To this end this invention contemplates means for isolating the camera and prevent contamination while providing means for the sanitary removal thereof, without the necessity of having to re-sterilize the camera again. This invention contemplates the use of a double walled tube that defines the passage for flowing the fluid medium being used for lens cleansing and a plastic lens laterally disposed in the passage for the fibre optics between the end of the cad, era and the lens cleansing means to isolate the camera from the cleansing fluid and any blood or body fluid or other contaminants from reaching the camera. A roll-up plastic bag is mounted at the end of the instrument and serves to follow the camera while it is being retrieved to encapsulate the entire camera and its attendant parts to keep it sterilized and to prevent it from becoming contaminated.

Lens cleaning means for invasive viewing medical instruments with anti-contamination means


A positioning device receives multiple positioning signals respectively transmitted from multiple positioning satellites, changes a condition of the positioning satellites to be used in a positioning calculation processing based on a determination of whether a surrounding environment is an environment in which a multipath is likely to occur, and performs the positioning calculation processing by using the positioning signals from the positioning satellites that satisfy the condition.

In a technical field of a global positioning satellite system (GNSS), it has been known that an error can be included in position information as a result of calculation when a positioning device receives a positioning signal transmitted from a positioning satellite and reflected by buildings or the like (so-called multipath).

Positioning device and positioning method


A process in which a hydrocarbon feedstock containing n-butane is selectively dehydrogenated to a product containing butenes; a catalyst suitable for the selective dehydrogenation of a feedstock containing n-butane to provide a product containing butenes and a method for producing a catalyst suitable for the selective dehydrogenation of a feedstock containing n-butane to provide a product containing butenes are provided.

It is known that n-butane can be dehydrogenated to butenes in the presence of variety of catalyst supports impregnated with a variety of metals. The dehydrogenation often produces coke at a rate that spoils the reactivity of the catalyst in a sufficiently short period of time to render the commercial use of the catalysts infeasible. A catalyst composition has newly been found to be useful for selectively dehydrogenating n-butane to butene products without producing coke at a commercially inhibiting rate.

Method of preparing a zeolite based catalyst material


A method of inserting a rivet into a workpiece comprises moving the rivet and workpiece relative to one another, along a longitudinal axis of the rivet, so as to drive the rivet into the workpiece. The rivet is rotated about its longitudinal axis, relative to the workpiece, for at least part of the time during which it is in contact with the workpiece. The speed of said rotation, or the speed of movement along the longitudinal axis of the rivet, is altered at least once before driving of the rivet into the workpiece is complete. One axial end of the rivet has a tip for piercing the workpiece, and the rivet has a substantially cylindrical shank extending longitudinally from the tip. The shank has one or more surface irregularities.

The present invention relates to a method of riveting which is of particular, but not exclusive, application to the automotive industry.
Self-piercing riveting (SPR) is a spot-joining technique in which a self-piercing rivet is driven, by a punch, into a layered workpiece supported on a die. The die is shaped so that as the rivet is driven into the workpiece towards the die, the material of the workpiece plastically deforms. This flow of workpiece material causes the annular tip of the rivet to flare outwards and remain encapsulated by an upset annulus of the workpiece material. The flared tip of the rivet interlocking with the upset annulus of the workpiece prevents removal of the rivet or separation of the layers of the workpiece.
Because SPR requires plastic flow of workpiece material to allow penetration and upsetting of the rivet, some materials are usually considered unsuitable for this technique. For example, magnesium alloys, ultra high strength steel (UHSS) and aircraft grade aluminium are not considered to have sufficient ductility for conventional SPR—a conventional rivet of sufficient column strength to penetrate materials of this hardness is too resistant to flaring to be properly upset. As another example, polymeric workpiece layers or those of composite materials may crack or fracture upon contact with the rivet, rather than deforming plastically, and this can produce a weak joint and/or one which is more exposed to oxidation through moisture ingress. SPR is therefore conventionally only used for materials such as standard grades of steel and forming grade aluminium.
Solid riveting (i.e. conventional riveting) is another spot joining technique. A rivet with a cylindrical shank and enlarged head is inserted into a pre-formed hole in a workpiece, so that its head abuts the top surface of the workpiece and the shank protrudes from the layered workpiece on the other side. The protruding end of the shank is then upset, for instance using a hammer or press in conjunction with a bucking bar, peening the end of the shank to form a radially enlarged lobe which prevents removal of the rivets or separation of the layers of the workpiece. One problem with solid riveting is the requirement for pre-formed holes in workpieces. This increases the complexity and duration (and thus cost) of the joining process. In addition, steps must be taken to hold a workpiece in position after the holes have been formed, so as to prevent different layers (and thus the holes therein) from becoming misaligned while the rivet and associated tooling is maneuvered into place.
Another known spot-joining technique is friction stir spot welding. In friction stir spot welding a cylindrical punch with a shouldered probe at its tip is rotated and driven into the workpiece layers to be joined. Sliding friction between the probe and the workpiece layers causes the layers to soften and plasticize without melting, and the rotation of the probe displaces the material and causes the plasticized portions of the two layers to intermingle. When the punch is withdrawn and the workpiece allowed to cool, the intermingled plasticized portions harden and produce a welded joint between the two layers.
Friction stir spot welding is only used to weld materials of very similar composition, since the above intermingled plasticized portions can only be formed if the materials of the workpiece soften at similar temperatures. Further, some materials are unsuitable for friction stir spot welding at all, for instance those which do not soften with temperature in the required manner (such as thermosetting polymers), or those which undergo an alteration in mechanical properties at the temperature required (for instance, hardened steel may be brought out of temper in the region of a friction stir spot weld).


A device for position and speed-dependent damping of pivotal movements of a wheel-supporting pendular arm of a motor vehicle, includes a housing (16) with a cavity for rotatable support of a swing axle of the pendular arm; a plate pack arranged in the housing; a first annular pressure disk, torsionally fixed but axially moveable on the swing axle of the pendular arm; a second annular pressure plate, torsionally fixed but axially moveable in the housing, the two pressure plates having opposing sides with members designed, on rotation of the first pressure plate, to produce an axial movement of the pressure plates relative to one another; and a compression spring unit, designed to exert a compressive force on the pressure plates and on the plate pack.

The present invention relates to a device for damping pivotal movements of a wheel-supporting pendular arm of a motor vehicle. The invention relates especially to such a device for both position and speed-dependent damping of pivotal movements of wheel-supporting pendular arms of a tracked motor vehicle.
DE-A-1 961 008 has previously disclosed a springing and damping device for damping pivotal movements of a wheel-supporting pendular arm of a tracked vehicle, the device comprising a housing with a cavity for rotatable support of a swing axle of the pendular arm; a plate pack arranged in the housing and comprising a number of coaxially adjoining, annular disk plates, which are alternately torsionally fixed but axially moveable in the housing or on the swing axle; a first annular pressure disk torsionally fixed but axially moveable on the swing axle of the pendular arm; a second annular pressure plate, torsionally fixed but axially moveable in the housing, the two pressure plates having opposing sides with members designed, on rotation of the first pressure plate, to produce an axial movement of the pressure plates in relation to one another; and compression spring unit, designed to exert a compressive force on the pressure plates and the disk plates. Springing movements of the pendular arm are permitted by a torsion bar, to which the pendular arm is connected, whilst a position-dependent damping of compressive springing movements of the pendular arm is achieved in that friction disk plates are pressed against one another and against a brake disk in the housing through the action of the compression spring unit, when the pressure disks are separated from one another by means of interacting wedge elements in compressive springing of the pendular arm.
In extreme off-road driving conditions of a tracked vehicle with such a springing and damping system, bottoming easily occurs unless the system is of very rigid design, which has an adverse affect on comfort in ordinary road driving conditions.
An object of the invention is to produce an improved device for damping pivotal movements of the wheel-supporting pendular arms of a tracked vehicle, which device will permit both position-dependent and speed-dependent damping of the pendular arms in the case of compressive springing and position-dependent damping in the case of extension springing in order to produce a good, comfortable springing and damping function both in ordinary driving of the vehicle on roads and in extreme off-road driving conditions.
With this object in view, the aforementioned device according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises an axially moveable piston, arranged between the compression spring unit and the pressure plates, and a restrictor element, which allows a hydraulic pressure medium to flow from one side of the piston to the other. A damping device is thereby obtained, which due to the supporting of the piston between the compression spring unit and the pressure disks is capable of functioning as a hydromechanical damper, which is capable of braking rapid compression springing movements of the pendular arm and preventing bottoming.
Further special features of the damping device according to the invention are specified in the following dependent claims.
The invention is described in more detail below with reference to drawings attached.

Device for damping pivotal movements of a wheel-supporting pendular arm of a motor vehicle


A gaming device for awarding a beverage to a player playing a wagering game. A display displays a graphical representation of a complimentary item or service. A game controller controls play of the wagering game and randomly determines an amount of the complimentary item or service to be graphically added to the displayed complimentary item or service in response to a play of the wagering game. An output mechanism awards the complimentary item or service when the graphical representation of the complimentary item or service is completely accumulated and activated by the player.

Electronic gaming machines ("EGMs") or gaming devices provide a variety of wagering games such as slot games, video poker games, video blackjack games, roulette games, video bingo games, keno games and other types of games that are frequently offered at casinos and other locations. Play on EGMs typically involves a player establishing a credit balance by inputting money and placing a monetary wager (from the credit balance) on one or more outcomes of an instance (or single play) of a primary or base game. In many games, a player may qualify for secondary games or bonus rounds by attaining a certain winning combination or triggering event in the base game. Secondary games provide an opportunity to win additional game instances, credits, awards, jackpots, progressives, etc. Awards from any winning outcomes are typically added back to the credit balance and can be provided to the player upon completion of a gaming session or when the player wants to "cash out."
"Slot" type games are often displayed to the player in the form of various symbols arrayed in a row-by-column grid or matrix. Specific matching combinations of symbols along predetermined paths (or paylines) through the matrix indicate the outcome of the game. The display typically highlights winning combinations/outcomes for ready identification by the player. Matching combinations and their corresponding awards are usually shown in a "pay-table" which is available to the player for reference. Often, the player may vary his/her wager to include differing numbers of paylines and/or the amount bet on each line. By varying the wager, the player may sometimes alter the frequency or number of winning combinations, frequency or number of secondary games, and/or the amount awarded.
Typical games use a random number generator (RNG) to randomly determine the outcome of each game. The game is designed to return a certain percentage of the amount wagered back to the player (RTP=return to player) over the course of many plays or instances of the game. The RTP and randomness of the RNG are critical to ensuring the fairness of the games and are therefore highly regulated. The RNG may be used to randomly determine the outcome of a game and symbols may then be selected which correspond to that outcome or to randomly select the symbols whose resulting combinations determine the outcome. Notably, some games may include an element of skill on the part of the player and are therefore not entirely random.
Playing can be a frustrating experience when players have played for an extended period of time without winning. For example, if players are not winning or have not won any prizes even after playing a large number of games, players tend to stop gaming or leave the games early due to frustration. Ancillary awards may motivate players to continue playing. Even when players are winning, delays in award may also frustrate players. Thus, ancillary awards may heighten the excitement of winning, and temporarily quench the thirst of obtaining prizes associated with the winning. Thus, additional incentives may be needed to raise player morale.

Gaming system providing for variable ancillary non-cash awards

Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited