An improved substrate guide member and an improved method of manufacturing the same wherein slits are cut at the base of raised relief ribs prior to drawing such ribs. The result is a flatter and less expensive substrate guide member without the need for supplemental straightening processes.

The present invention relates to precision forming of sheet metal and more particularly to a simplified and lower cost method for stamping raised relief features in sheet metal without inducing significant metal stresses that warp the sheet. A particular application is formation of ridges that help guide paper along high speed paper paths formed of sheet metal.
Pressing or stamping of raised relief features in sheet metal is a common operation used in fabricating many industrial components. In such processes, the sheet metal is stressed as the feature is drawn, or stretched, away from the initial planeness of the base sheet of metal. Such stresses under prior art processes warp the base of sheet metal from which the feature is drawn.
In applications where a high degree of planeness in the base sheet of a sheet metal component is required after the drawing process, prior art methods and procedures have countered the warping of the base sheet through a number of techniques. In one prior art technique, planeness can be improved by stretching the work piece, especially when the stretched sheet is rolled while stretched. U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,521 describes one such process in relation to production processes for hot rolled and quenched metal sheets. Among the shortcomings of this techniques are the requirement for expensive high pressure hydraulic equipment and gripping fixtures as well as indentations or distortions introduced into the part by the gripping fixtures themselves. In another prior art technique to increase planeness, a component is heated to soften the metal before the raised relief feature is drawn. A shortcoming of this second method is that the subsequent cooling process itself may introduce warping in the base sheet. In addition, temperatures that are hot enough to soften the metal may adversely alter the crystalline characteristics of the metal. Yet another prior art technique involves striking, or pushing small xe2x80x9cdimplesxe2x80x9d into the workpiece to introduce surface stresses that offset the stresses previously introduced by the drawing process. Such striking process often requires manual manipulation since variations in the workpiece base substrates make the stresses introduced by drawing irregular. Such manual manipulation takes time, is imprecise, depends greatly upon the intuition and skill of the manipulator, and other ways significantly increases costs while diminishing quality.
One example of a component with raised relief features that requires a high degree of planeness in the base sheet is a substrate guide in a high speed electrostatographic printer. This guide is designed to help position any number of printing cut sheet or web substrates, including paper, transparencies, cut sheets, other plastics and, generally, any planar material suitable for printing. An example of such a paper guide component is shown in FIG. 1. Such a guide component 10 is typically used in the portion of a printer or copier that guides the substrate to the photoreceptor. Raised relief ribs 14-20 and similar ribs are designed to reduce friction as paper slides over guide component 10 as well as to help paper continue in a straight path from paper feed system to the photoreceptor/substrate image transfer area, while inhibiting skew of the paper. Additionally, ribs such as 14-20 reduce the area of contact between guide member 10 and the copy substrate, thereby minimizing the risk that contaminant toner that falls onto guide component 10 will smudge the reverse side of the copy substrate. Ribs 14-16 are skewed in relation to the paper path direction in order to prevent paper edge jamming on rib edges and also to guide paper sizes from A5 to A4, in various registration modes.
FIGS. 2-4 provide close-up and cross-sectional views of guide component 10. In FIG. 2, a series of ribs are shown in detail with cross-sectional perspectives indicated by lines Axe2x80x94A and Bxe2x80x94B. FIG. 3 shows the elevated cross-sectional view along line Axe2x80x94A of FIG. 2. In this view, two ribs, 15 and 16 are in raised relief from base sheet 12. FIG. 4 shows the elevated cross-sectional view along line Bxe2x80x94B of FIG. 2. This cross-sectional view shows the cross-sectional raised relief profile of rib 15 in relation to base sheet 12. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-4, ribs 14-17 in guide component 10 are in the range of 15 mm long and are drawn in a relief of approximately 1.2 mm above base plate 12. Ribs 14-17 are drawn with a high aspect ratio as shown particularly in FIG. 3. Of course, the shape and dimensions of paper guide components such as guide component 10 with ribs 14-20 vary greatly depending upon the particular apparatus and function that they are to serve.
Under prior art processes, guide component 10 is manufactured in a progressive die cut process as indicated in FIG. 5. This process is conventionally finished with a manual striking process to straighten the part after the progressive cutting and stamping procedures. Moving from right-to-left in FIG. 5, the die cut process begins at step 1 with a blank sheet 50 of stainless steel comprised of 304 alloy or similar material. Piercing slots are first begun in step 2 in a die-cut along the edges leading to a bending and cutting step in step 3 that forms slotted mounting features such as lugs 51 along each side. Another set of piercing cuts are made at step 3 to begin separation of the various guide components 10 from each other. A last separation cut is made at step 4 to separate each guide component 10 except for its end region proximate to mounting lugs 51.
At step 6, ribs such as ribs 14-20 are drawn in a stamping process. In FIG. 5, this drawing process takes several intermediate iterations in order to minimize the stamping force required any one step of the drawing process. At step 7, a striking process is applied by stamping strategically placed dimples into guide component 10 in an attempt to offset the internal stresses causes by drawing step 6. At step 8, the long edges are folded over to increase the end-to end rigidity of guide component 10 and to form crested flat region 21, shown in FIG. 2. At the far left of FIG. 5, mounting lugs 51 are finally free cut to fully separate each guide component 10 from the base sheet 50, thereby to form the completed guide component.
One additional step is generally after the free cut is made. Although the striking step of step 7 attempts to remove stress and to thereby provide straightness along the long dimension of guide component 10, such automated striking process rarely succeeds in obtaining the desired straightness. Accordingly, an additional manual re-striking step is required to obtain the required flatness. This re-striking process adds cost, complexity, and, because it is manually performed, imprecision to the finished guide component 10. The particular purpose of this re-striking process is to remove the stresses introduced along the long dimension of guide component 10 by the drawing process at step 6 that forms the ribs.
Prior art achievement of flatness across the long dimension of various portions of guide component 10 has been difficult. Without hand straightening, typical flatness of a formed guide component 10 under the prior art was as follows:
(A) end-to-end flatness over ribs such as ribs 14-20: xe2x89xa63.0 mm;
(B) end-to end flatness of ribbed base sheet 12: xe2x89xa63.0 mm; and
(C) end-to-end flatness over crested flat region 21: xe2x89xa63.0 mm.
The reason for such lack of flatness is that the drawing process stretches metal in the vicinity of the drawn features, thereby creating differential stresses in various regions of the base metal. The result is that drawing the raised relief ribs such as 14-20 not only causes ripples in the ribbed base sheet 12 but, in addition, causes the metal to ripple in the crested flat region 21 as well. With manual straightening using an expensive and tedious striking process, flatness can be improved to the following acceptable levels:
(A) end-to-end flatness over ribs such as ribs 14-20: xe2x89xa60.4 mm;
(B) end-to end flatness of ribbed base sheet 12: xe2x89xa60.5 mm; and
(C) end-to-end flatness over crested flat region 21: xe2x89xa60.5-0.75 mm.
For a typical guide component 10 of approximately 320 mm, this means that end-to-end flatness of the critical crested flat region 21 must minimally be maintained within 0.2% (0.751320%). Significant improvements in flatness would be greatly desired. Referring to FIG. 6, the reason that such flatness is important is that guide component 10 acts as an intermediate between the paper feed system and the image transfer stage by guiding the copy substrate to the exact image transfer area at the photoreceptor. Crested flat region 21 of guide component 10 sets the gap through the copy substrate must move, thereby determining the substrate proximity to the photoreceptor. The gap, in turn, is set by fastening lug mounts 51 at the extreme ends of guide component 10. If the 0.2% end-to-end flatness of crested flat region 21 of guide component 10 is not met, then at least portions of the image transfer gap will be either too large or too small.
The particular dimension of the gap is optimized for the substrate size range specified in the machine performance specification. In a typical specification for an electrostatographic printer, the spacing of guide component 10 to the photoreceptor is set at only 0.7xc2x10.2 mm. As discussed above, in order to achieve such flatness, an extra striking step is included in the progressive die press operation of the prior art. This re-striking step introduces extra surface stresses that offset the warping induced by the rib forming. As an extra and as a manual process, this extra straightening process adds the cost of an additional process, including set up, execution, and testing time. Also, additional striking machinery and tooling is required, both of which must be maintained.
As additional background, many prior art processes for stamped and drawn parts provide for cuts and slits to be formed within the base sheet of a part. For instance, sheet metal parts formed into housings for machinery producing heat such as air conditioners have die cut slits that are then bent during a drawing process to form vents. Double slits around raised rib-like parts are also known in sheet metal used as lattice support during construction of plaster-faced walls. In none of these known applications, however, is precision flatness a requirement of the final component.
In sum, considerable advantages over prior art manufacturing techniques for components such as guide component 10 would be realized if any extra straightening process, especially a manual process, could be eliminated and if a simplified and less expensive manufacturing process yielded components with even greater straightness than parts made with prior art processes.
One aspect of the invention is a guide member for guiding a substrate along a paper path, said guide member comprising: (a) a ribbed base sheet having a long dimension and a plurality of end regions; (b) a substrate guide rib formed in raised relief from the ribbed base sheet, said rib having two long and two short sides, each side having a base region; (c) a cut formed along one long side of the rib proximate to the base region of such long rib side; (d) a crested flat region formed parallel to the ribbed base sheet along its long dimension; and (e) mounting fixtures located proximate to the end regions.
Another aspect of the invention is an electrostatographic marking system, comprising a substrate guide member comprising: a ribbed base sheet having a long dimension and a plurality of end regions; a plurality of substrate guide ribs each formed in raised relief from the ribbed base sheet and having two long and two short sides with each side having a base region; a cut formed along at least one long side of each rib proximate to the base region of such long rib side; a crested flat region formed parallel to the ribbed base sheet along its long dimension; and mounting fixtures located proximate to the end regions.
Yet another aspect of the invention is a process for forming a substrate guide member, comprising: forming the flattened outline of the substrate guide member out of sheet metal; cutting a slit in the sheet metal at the location that will become the base of at least one long side of a raised relief rib formed on the substrate guide member; drawing the raised relief rib at the location such that the cut slit is proximate the base of a long side of a raised relief rib; and bending one long edge of the flattened outline to form a crested flat region of the substrate guide member.

Substrate guide member with improved flatness and method of making the same


A semiconductor device is provided in which a zener diode having a desired breakdown voltage and a capacitor in which voltage dependence of capacitance is reduced are mounted together, and various circuits are realized. The semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor layer; a first conductivity type well that is arranged in a first region of the semiconductor layer; a first conductivity type first impurity diffusion region that is arranged in the well; a first conductivity type second impurity diffusion region that is arranged in a second region of the semiconductor layer; an insulating film that is arranged on the second impurity diffusion region; an electrode that is arranged on the insulating film; and a second conductivity type third impurity diffusion region that is arranged at least on the first impurity diffusion region.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, a manufacturing method of the semiconductor device, and the like.
2. Related Art
A semiconductor device that includes a capacitor (MOS capacitor) that is formed by using a MOS structure as a circuit element is used, for example. A known MOS capacitor is constituted by a gate electrode formed above a semiconductor substrate via a gate insulating film and a substrate region (hereinafter, also referred to as "electrode region") that opposes the gate electrode with the gate insulating film being interposed therebetween.
However, in the case where the MOS capacitor is configured by using a substrate region having a low impurity concentration similar to a substrate region in which a MOS field effect transistor is formed, a depletion layer is generated in the electrode region due to inversion of the voltage applied to the gate electrode, and an inversion capacitance is formed. Accordingly, the total capacitance of the MOS capacitor is expressed as a series connection of the capacitance determined by the shape of the gate insulating film and the gate electrode and the inversion capacitance, and has voltage dependence.
In circuit design, in general, a capacitance having voltage dependence is difficult to use, and a capacitance having no voltage dependence is desired. Therefore, the voltage dependence of the capacitance of the MOS capacitor is avoided or reduced by increasing the impurity concentration in the electrode region such that the depletion layer is not generated in the electrode region when voltage is applied to the gate electrode.
However, if the impurity concentration in the electrode region is too high, degradation in quality occurs such as a reduction in capacitance of the MOS capacitor and a reduction in breakdown voltage of the gate insulating film caused by abnormal growth of an oxide film when the gate insulating film is formed by oxidizing a surface of the semiconductor substrate. Accordingly, an optimum value exists in the impurity concentration in the electrode region of the MOS capacitor.
Also, there are cases in which a zener diode is formed as a circuit element in a semiconductor device. The zener diode is constituted by a PN junction of a high concentration P-type impurity diffusion region and an N-type impurity diffusion region. In general, the PN junction is formed by joining a P-type impurity diffusion region that constitutes a source or a drain of a MOS field effect transistor and an N-type impurity diffusion region. Note that adjustment of the concentration in impurity diffusion regions that form the PN junction is needed when the specifications of the breakdown voltage are different.
A MOS capacitor in which voltage dependence is reduced is disclosed in JP-A-2000-340674 (paragraphs 0005-0007, FIG. 8) as a related technology. The MOS capacitor is formed in a CMOS device in which both a P-channel MOS transistor and an N-channel MOS transistor are included, and a high concentration region having the same conductivity as a semiconductor region that is located under an insulating film constituting the MOS capacitor is formed in the semiconductor region so as to be adjacent to the insulating film.
Incidentally, it is required that, in order to realize various circuits, a zener diode having a desired breakdown voltage and a capacitor in which voltage dependence of capacitance is reduced are mounted together in the semiconductor device. Meanwhile, when an attempt is made to mount a plurality of different types of circuit elements together in the semiconductor device, processes for forming dedicated impurity diffusion regions for respective circuit elements increase, and the manufacturing cost of the semiconductor device increases due to the increased number of masks and processes.

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof


A microprocessor includes two or more processing cores each configured to determine, at each of succeeding instances in time, an amount of energy consumed by the microprocessor during a period preceding the instance in time. The period is predetermined. Each core also operates at a frequency above a predetermined frequency in response to determining the amount of energy consumed is less than a predetermined amount of energy. All of the cores may operate above the predetermined frequency simultaneously until one of the cores determines the microprocessor has consumed more than the predetermined amount of energy during the period preceding the instance in time. The predetermined frequency may be: a frequency at which all the cores can operate over the predetermined period without the microprocessor consuming more than the predetermined amount of energy, or alternatively the maximum frequency at which system software may request the cores to operate.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/403,195, filed Mar. 12, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses an adaptive power throttling feature that attempts to provide the user the most performance possible while still staying below a maximum power consumption (P) over a defined time interval (T). The P and T values are typically specified by the manufacturer of the system that incorporates the microprocessor that includes the adaptive power throttling feature. The microprocessor knows the frequency at which it can operate indefinitely without consuming more than P Watts and typically operates at this frequency (Xp). (In one embodiment, the frequency at the operating point Xp corresponds to the well-known P-state commonly referred to as P0.) However, at numerous sub-intervals of T (referred to as bins), the microprocessor calculates the average power consumed (A) over the most recent T time and compares A with P. If A is sufficiently less than P (i.e., the microprocessor has power "credits"), the microprocessor may decide to run itself at a frequency that is higher than Xp.
The introduction of dual cores on a single microprocessor package introduces complexity to the adaptive power throttling feature, or power credit feature. This is because the system manufacturer imposes the P and T requirement on a microprocessor package basis, not on a per-core basis. However, the independent cores will likely consume different power over a given T. First, the operating system changes the operating points (e.g., P-states and C-states) independently for each core such that the cores consume different power. Furthermore, the software workload will likely be different on the two cores. Additionally, the independent cores may reach their bin intervals at different points in real time. Nevertheless, the P and T requirements must be met for the microprocessor package as a whole.

Multicore processor power credit management to allow all processing cores to operate at elevated frequency


A traffic policer is coupled to a network buffer. A cell stream is supplied to this traffic policer. When a frame has a mix of tagged and non-tagged cells, the distribution of tagged and non-tagged cells is determined. Based on this distribution and some predetermined criteria, a decision is made to tag all cells of the frame or to set all tags to non tagged in the frame. Exiting frames only exist of all tagged cells or all non tagged cells. Entire frames are discarded in case of congestion.

The present invention relates to a network policing method for cell tagging within a communications network as described in the preamble of claim 1 and related device as described in the preamble of claim 2.
Such a cell tagging method is already known in the art, e.g. from the section xe2x80x9cTraffic and Congestion Control in ATM Networksxe2x80x9d, pages 302-340 in Asynchronous Transfer Mode: Solution for Broadband ISDN, third edition, from the author Martin de Prycker. Therein, a cell based traffic policing method called Usage Parameter Control (UPC), containing the steps of checking cells called determining cells to be conforming or non-conforming and tagging cells called cell tagging is described.
Since in a cell based tagging method only single cells from a frame are tagged, the frame may exist of a mix of tagged and non-tagged cells. In case of congestion the tagged cells might be discarded from the frame leaving incomplete frames in the network. Since incomplete frames are useless from an application point of view, hence the presence of these frames decreases network throughput.
This situation can be improved by using frame based traffic policing methods but, these often have the disadvantage that a number of cells of the entire frame which should be tagged, already have left the traffic policer. Only the cells that still remain within the traffic policer can be tagged. A frame exist of a mix of tagged and non-tagged cells is left then in the communications network. In case of congestion the tagged cells might be discarded from the frame leaving incomplete frames in the network. If such incomplete frames are not used anywhere in the communication network, then again the presence of these frames decreases network throughput.
As a remark on this frame based policing methods it should be mentioned that there are frame based policing algorithms possible and available not having the disadvantage of leaving corrupted frames within the network. One of those methods is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5.666.353 with title xe2x80x9cFrame based traffic policing for a digital switchxe2x80x9d. However the disadvantage of this kind of methods is that the network has to support this method throughout the entire network to avoid incomplete frames within the network. This is very unlikely in the near future because it should be agreed and supported by all network operators.
Summarising the former, it can be said that applying traffic policing methods in a communication network in general, involves that the frames within the communication network may be incomplete because of a number of different possible problems as mentioned before. If such incomplete frames are not used anywhere in the communication network, then the presence of these frames decreases network throughput.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cell tagging method of the above known type and related devices adapted to perform this method, but wherein the network throughput is improved.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by the method described in claim 1 and the network buffer described in claim 2.
Indeed by determining a tagged cell distribution within a frame by the network buffer a decision on the distribution of tagged cells within this frame can be made. Based on this decision all cells of the entire frame can be marked with a low or high cell loss priority. In this way the network only transports frames consisting of tagged cells only or non-tagged cells only. If all cells have the same cell loss priority, the entire frame will be passed or discarded in case of congestion. In case of congestion within the network, no incomplete frames are transported through the network. Network resources consequently are no longer occupied by incomplete frames that are not used.
The above and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by referring to the following description of an embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing that represents, for the present invention, a relevant part of a Telecommunications network wherein a method for cell tagging according to the present invention is applied. The part of the telecommunications network drawn in the figure comprises a traffic policer TP and a network buffer NB which are interconnected and along which a communications path is set-up.

Cell tagging method for buffered and fragmented frames


An apparatus with a rotatable arm for unwinding a strand by taking it off of the side of a wound package.

Over End Take-Off equipment is used to unwind strands of material that have been pre wound onto cores. The pre-wound cores are called packages. Over End Take-Off equipment unwinds a strand by taking it off over the end of the package. The Over End Take-Off equipment then feeds the unwound strand to downstream equipment.
During the unwinding process, the strand experiences friction as it is being taken off. As a strand is being taken off, the strand may also experience adhesive and/or cohesive forces that stick the strand to the underlying material of the package. Due to friction and sticking forces, the strand resists being taken off over the end of the package. As a result of this resistance, during the unwinding, the strand may experience high tension and/or variable tensions, which make reliable processing more difficult.
Further, as a strand is being taken off, portions of the strand may encounter sticking forces that are quite large, when compared to the strength of the strand. When the strand is taken off over the end of the package, the strand is pulled across the side of the package. When the strand is pulled across the side of the package, the tension in the strand attempts to overcome the sticking forces by shearing the stuck portion away from the side. However, in this mode, the strand may experience a high tension that breaks the strand, resulting in downtime for the equipment.

Apparatus with rotatable arm for unwinding strands of material


Circuits for producing signals representative of mean and variance estimations for quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) are provided where the circuits comprise: sequentially repeated first circuit modules and sequentially repeated second circuit modules configured for producing updates in the corresponding estimation iterations. In one embodiment, a closest negative integer power of 2 is used as a substitute multiplicand when multiplying together two or more outputs of hyperbolic function generating units where the substituted for output is less than one. Size and complexity of the corresponding multiplier can then be reduced.

A technique used for digital information detection in so-called, Soft Interference Cancellation (SIC) receivers relies on iterative feedback of log likelihood ratio signals (LLR's) and progressively improved estimations of the more likely bit sequences to have been received through a noisy channel given a known constellation of the symbols representing those bit sequences. Within this technique, it is necessary to determine soft symbol means and variances of the constellation symbols. However, circuitry for generating the soft symbol means and variances tends to be large, complex and slow in performance.

Efficient methods and recursive/scalable circuit architectures for QAM symbol mean and variance estimations


A metal resistor and resistor material are disclosed. The metal resistor may include an infused metal selected from the group consisting of: copper (Cu) infused with at least one of silicon (Si), nitrogen (N2), carbon (C), tantalum (Ta), titanium (Ti) and tungsten (W), and aluminum infused with at least one of silicon (Si), nitrogen (N2), carbon (C), tantalum (Ta), titanium (Ti) and tungsten (W). The resistor material may include one of: copper (Cu) infused with at least one of silicon (Si), nitrogen (2), carbon (C), tantalum (Ta), titanium (Ti) and tungsten (W), and aluminum infused with at least one of silicon (Si), nitrogen (N2), carbon (C), tantalum (Ta), titanium (Ti) and tungsten (W).

1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication, and more particularly, to a metal resistor and resistor material, and a method of forming the metal resistor.
2. Background Art
The resistor is one of the most common electrical components, and is used in almost every electrical device. In semiconductor device fabrication, it is well known to have thin film resistors embedded in the back-end-of-line (BEOL) structures of the chip through either a damascene approach or a subtractive etch method. The BEOL thin film resistors are preferred over other types of resistors because of the lower parasitic capacitance. Conventional resistor materials and fabrication methods, however, present a number of challenges.
In one approach, the sheet resistivity of the various resistors formed over the entire wafer may vary and go beyond specifications due to poor process control. In an advanced manufacturing line, wafers out of speciation are often scrapped for quality control, which is expensive.
One material used for resistors is doped polysilicon. A problem with this conventional resistor material is that it can only provide a limited resistance within a limited dimension, which presents problems as further miniaturization of the device features continues. Resistive thin films such as chromium silicide (CrSi) and tantalum nitride (TaN) are also used as resistors in semiconductor devices.
Integration schemes used to fabricate the resistor components within the interconnect structure fall into two primary categories. In the first integration scheme, a thin film resistor is formed by etching on top of an insulator. A metallic layer is deposited on top of the resistive layer and is used to protect the resistive layer from being damaged during the sequential etching process. After the resistor has been defined, the underneath dielectric is then patterned and etched to define the interconnect pattern. Finally, a metallic layer for the interconnect is deposited, patterned, and etched. This process presents challenges because, although the protective layer is capable of protecting the resistive layer, the provided protection is limited and the resistive layer may still get damaged during the etching process. This approach also requires extra layers, which adds cost and complexity. In the second integration scheme, a thin film resistor is formed by etching on top of an insulator. An interlevel dielectric is then deposited, followed by patterning and etching processes to define an upper level interconnect structure with vias connected to the underneath thin film resistor. A planarization process is usually required after deposition of the interlevel dielectric material in order to compromise any possible topography related issues caused by the underneath resistors. The planarization process adds expense.
Setting the resistance of the resistors also presents challenges. In one approach, resistors can be trimmed using laser or high-energy particle beam to set the resistance thereof. But, these processes are not clean and therefore have never become a common practice. Resistors can also be programmed by using a shunt transistor to deselect at least a portion of the resistor from a chain of the resistor circuit. This approach has at least a couple of problems. First, the resolution of the programming is limited by the least significant bit (LSB) device size, and the shunt device itself has some resistance. The tuning precision using this approach is thus poor.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a solution to the problems of the related art.

International Business Machines Corporation


A scheme for management of uncertainty in control systems that require adaptation is described. The scheme removes as much uncertainty as possible at design time and manufacturing time by taking advantage of available computer resources in pre-computing a large set of robustness-performance tradeoffs. a plant that is controlled by having model controllers and a data evaluator receive monitored signals. The monitored signals are evaluated to determine when sufficient information is received. One of the model controllers generates a control signal based upon the monitored signals received.

This invention relates to the field of control systems and, more specifically, to management of uncertainty in control systems that require adaptation.
The design of new systems is becoming increasingly complex because of reliance on high performance features requiring tight tolerances and more robustness to system variations, for example, in resonance and anti-resonance. Resonance is a phenomenon that occurs in different types of systems, including mechanical, electrical, and acoustic systems. Many industries, for example, the disk drive industry, rely on system component redesigns in order to handle the resonances in their systems because current disk drive servo systems are unstable in the presence of resonances.
In a disk drive, a servo system is typically used to position a head assembly relative to a disk in order to reproducibly read and write data onto a specific location of a disk. The industry trend is toward increasing data storage densities and decreasing data access times by packing data locations as close to one another as possible (i.e., increasing track density) and by faster positioning of head assemblies over the data locations (i.e., decreasing seek time). This, however, leads to problems with resonance that develops in servo systems having tight alignment tolerances. Mechanical resonances in servo systems are a result of complex vibration interactions in the disk drives. Whereas, electrical resonances and anti-resonances in channel transfer functions may be the result of transmission line taps.
For example, in a magnetic disk drive, a head is flown over the disk surface on a thin air bearing. Mechanical vibrations in the drive due to air turbulence may result in tracking (i.e., head positioning) errors, thereby limiting achievable storage densities or resulting in increased access times to allow for resonance to dampen out of the system.
Unmeasured variables may affect the operation of a drive and can cause variations in performance from unit-to-unit, as well as within a unit, during use of the drive. These variables may include, for examples: temperature, spindle bearing asperity, disk flutter induced non-repeatable run-out (NRRO), and variable repeatable run-out (RRO).
One solution for reducing track errors is to redesign disk drive components that contribute to system resonance. Resonance may be engineered out by, for examples: designing smaller head assemblies, redesigning drive enclosures and mounts, and using disk materials that reduce disk flutter. Mechanically engineering out resonances, however, may be expensive and may delay getting a product to market.
Another solution is to design a servo control system so that the bandwidth of the system is increased and the resonant frequency is close to or inside the bandwidth of the system. The system bandwidth can be generally described as the range of frequencies within which a system will respond satisfactorily with acceptable gain and phase response. The gain margin and the phase response are measures of the relative stability of a system. The phase response of a system changes rapidly near resonance. As such, increasing the system""s bandwidth and moving the resonant frequency nearer to a system""s cross-over frequency makes the servo system more sensitive to the gain and phase response of the resonance.
One problem with these prior art servo systems is that as the system""s bandwidth is increased, the performance of the system degrades due to unit-to-unit manufacturing variations as well as variations within a particular unit operated under different conditions. The performance of a system may be defined, for example, in terms of root mean square (rms) in servo tracking errors as a response to given vibrations, measurement noise, and run-outs. As such, a resulting high bandwidth control system will have less robustness (i.e., less gain and phase margin).
Another problem with prior solutions is that a large uncertainty results when attempting to design only a fixed disk drive control system using only one model that accounts for all system variations. A single controller that has to handle all the variations without adapting requires high robustness to large uncertainty in the control design models. Large model uncertainty leads to poorer achievable performance because the design has to achieve that performance over a much larger set of models. Therefore, a single controller has to sacrifice performance to achieve robustness.
As an example, it is difficult to predict structural frequencies of disk drive components using simulation models as unit-to-unit variations dominate variations in responses. In addition, the parameter estimation schemes used in prior art solutions have difficulty in accurately determining resonant modes in the presence of unmeasured stochastic and periodic disturbances with limited closed loop data. As such, the phase variations in the resulting transfer function of the drive control system are large, requiring high phase and gain margins nearing resonance. Furthermore, in-use variations such as those due to temperature and external vibrations create even more uncertainty. A larger uncertainty in the models used in control system design results in a lower performance in actual operation of the disk drive.
As such, prior art solutions that do not adapt to the changes caused by unmeasured variables are limited by the accuracy of one control model of a system, and do not allow for increased control performance based on resource utilization at design and manufacturing time. Although, conventional parameter adaptive schemes, for examples: Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC), Self-Tuning Regulator (STR), and Pole-Placement, may be effective in low bandwidth, low noise systems, these methods have significant in-use robustness problems in higher bandwidth systems (e.g., disk drive servo control systems). Adaptation to changes caused by unmeasured variables in resonant systems with such prior art methods is non-robust because prior art adaptive methods: 1) do not account for uncertainty in models; 2) attempt to handle adaptation to large in-use and unit-to-unit variations ignoring model uncertainty; and 3) do not attempt to match compute resource utilization with information that is available at design and manufacturing time.
The present invention pertains to a method of generating a control system. The method may include generating a set of control models of the plant based on an operation of a prototype at a design time. The method may also include characterizing the operation of the plant at a manufacturing time and selecting a set of model controllers based on the characterizing of the operation of the plant at manufacturing time. Each of the model controllers may correspond to one of the control models. In one embodiment, the method may also include selecting one of the model controllers at a run time based on an operating parameter.
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a plant controller having model controllers. Each of the model controllers may be coupled to receive monitored signals and generate a control signal. The plant controller may also include a data evaluator coupled to receive the monitored signals and generate an output. The data evaluator determines when sufficient information from the monitored signals is received. The data evaluator may be coupled to select the control signal of one of the model controllers based on the output of the data evaluator.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.


The present invention provides methods and means for preparing vaccines that are capable of eliciting strong immune responses, especially through intranasal delivery. The invention discloses particles, referred to as “co-micelles,” in which antigens are present that interact through hydrophobic interactions with certain specific types of amphiphilic compounds, wherein the amphiphilic compounds have adjuvant activity and wherein the antigens are preferably antigenic surface proteins, such as integral membrane proteins from infectious agents like viruses.

Classically, vaccines against enveloped viruses either contain killed or live attenuated viruses, or contain their membrane proteins (e.g., split virus preparation). After injection, the virus particles or the proteins are taken up by cells of the immune system (for instance, dendritic cells or macrophages), followed by a presentation of their antigenic parts to effector cells of the immune system. Most vaccines have to be injected to elicit a sufficiently strong immune response because antigen-presenting phagocytes are most abundant just under the skin. However, it has now become clear that such cells are also present in the mucosa that, for instance, lines the nose (Ogra et al. 2001). The phagocytes of the mucosa require much stronger stimulation than those present under the skin (Janeway et al. 2001).
While the injection of some viruses or proteins, for example, influenza virus, elicits an immune response that is sufficiently strong to protect against a later infection by the same virus, this is not the case for many others, for example, respiratory syncytial virus. Numerous attempts to reinforce the immune response by physical or chemical means (by compounds called adjuvants) have been undertaken. The most important principles that emerge from these experiments are as follows. For physical stimulation, it has been found that particles containing multiple copies of viral subunits, such as whole viruses, virosomes, and proteins on microparticle carriers stimulate the immune system better than individual subunits (Ogra et al. 2001; Janeway et al. 2001), whereas chemical stimulation requires that the phagocytes or the effector cells of the immune system receive certain signals through receptors present on the cell surface, for instance, through the use of an adjuvant. With sufficient additional physicochemical stimulation, viral proteins can elicit strong immune responses even if applied to mucous membranes, for example, upon intranasal application (Ogra et al. 2001). Most of the current methods and compositions for stimulating an immune response by such means, whether by chemical or physical means or combinations of the two principles, have significant disadvantages that will be outlined below.
A particular kind of vaccine composition that was developed in the art is known as "virosomes," which are lipid bilayers containing viral glycoproteins (FIG. 1). Virosomes are generally produced by extraction of membrane proteins from viruses with detergents, followed by removal of the detergent in the presence of lipids such that characteristic lipid bilayers are formed with the proteins protruding from them (Stegmann et al. 1987). For some viral antigens, such virosomes elicit protective immune responses that are strong even when the vaccine is delivered through intranasal application (as is exemplified in PCT International Patent Application Publications WO 88/08718 and WO 92/19267). However, 30 to 85% of the viral proteins are lost during the process of virosome formation (WO 88/08718; Stegmann et al. 1987). Moreover, as the insertion of viral protein on either side of the membrane during reconstitution occurs with approximately equal probability, a large part of the protein (one third in the case of the influenza hemagglutinin, Stegmann et al. 1987) present in virosomes is present on the inside of the particles, and thus invisible to the immune system. Also, it is well known in the art that such artificial lipid bilayers render the preparation fragile, causing storage, handling and transport problems. Moreover, optimal formulation often requires complex mixtures of lipids, whose ratio has to be strictly controlled during production. This poses regulatory problems.
The immunogenicity of many viral antigens, for example, influenza hemagglutinin, is only slightly improved with respect to killed viruses when the antigen is presented from virosomes (Gluck et al. 1994). Therefore, to enhance the immune response allowing intranasal application of this vaccine, an adjuvant protein from Escherichia coli (heat-labile toxin) was mixed with the virosome influenza vaccine (EP 0538437). Clinical trials indicated that addition of the toxin was necessary to induce serum antibody titers equivalent to injected vaccine (Gluck et al. 1994). Although addition of the toxin did thus enhance the immunogenicity, it also induced a serious side effect known as Bell's Palsy, a temporary paralysis of facial muscles. In this case, the toxin did not form part of the virosomes but was present in the surrounding solution. As the adjuvanting effect of the toxin is due to recognition by an antigen-presenting cell, enhancing its reaction to a viral protein that the cell might take up, and since there is no certainty that the toxin and the viral protein will contact the same cell, a relatively high concentration of the toxin needs to be used in order to ensure activation of every cell. Therefore, clearly, virosomes have promising features, such as their particulate nature, but a fair number of disadvantages.
Alternatively, researchers in the art have also generated antigen complexes different from virosomes, such as "Immunostimulatory Complexes" (ISCOMs, Morein et al. 1984), containing viral proteins complexed with compounds such as Quil A® and saponins (EP 0231039B1; EP 0109942A1; EP 0180564A1), predominantly isolated from the bark of Quillaia sopanaria Molina. Mixed with antigen and lipids such as cholesterol, these compounds form cage-like structures of between 30 to 40 nm, rendering the antigen particulate, while acting at the same time as an adjuvant. Although ISCOMs have been used in a number of veterinary vaccines and enhance the immunogenicity of the viral membrane proteins, the development of such vaccines for humans has been inhibited by concerns about their toxicity and the complexity of the mixture (Cox et al. 1998).
More recently, proteosome influenza vaccines were developed (U.S. Pat. No 6,743,900), consisting of non-covalent complexes of the purified outer membrane proteins of bacteria such as meningococci, mixed with antigenic proteins such as the influenza hemagglutinin or the human immunodeficiency envelope glycoprotein. While the presence of these multiple bacterial proteins may act as an adjuvant, the complex nature of such mixtures consisting of multiple proteins will present a regulatory issue.
Another particulate formulation developed by Biovector Therapeutics consists of an inner core of carbohydrate surrounded by a lipid envelope containing antigens. With influenza hemagglutinin as the antigen, some enhancement of the immune response was noted, but not significant enough to warrant further development.
Live attenuated versions of respiratory viruses, such as a cold-adapted strain of influenza virus with minimal replication in the respiratory tract have been developed as intranasal vaccines. These vaccines have the advantage of inducing immune responses that are close to the natural immunity induced by an infection with wild-type virus. For influenza, such vaccines have been known for 20 years and now appear close to commercialization. The delay has been caused by concerns about the ability of many viruses to mutate rapidly, causing the properties of attenuated viruses to revert partially or wholly to wild-type virus and, in fact, causing the disease they were meant to prevent.
For the above reasons, it is well recognized in the art that a need still exists for new vaccine compositions that induce a strong immune response, that do not have the disadvantages of live virus vaccines, that are easily applicable and that have low toxicity. It is, therefore, recognized in the art that there is a need for sub-unit vaccines for intranasal delivery.

Compositions comprising antigen-complexes, method of making same as well as methods of using the antigen-complexes for vaccination


Inflatable curtain airbags and airbag assemblies are provided that can provide for top filling. The inflatable curtain airbag can include a top fill tube and one or more cushion segments. The top fill tube can extend at or adjacent an upper edge of the one or more cushion segments and the top fill tube can direct inflation gas from an inflator to the one or more cushion segments via channels or passages disposed away from one or more occupant receiving areas. The inflatable curtain airbags can also include one or more attachment areas disposed at or adjacent the upper edge of the one or more cushion segments. Mounting tabs may be coupled to the attachment areas and the mounting tabs may be used for installation of the inflatable curtain airbag in a vehicle.

Airbags are often mounted to a vehicle and deploy so as to prevent an occupant from impacting vehicular structures and/or to prevent an occupant from being ejected from a vehicle in a collision or roll-over. Inflatable chamber arrangements and configurations of the airbags can be used to direct inflation gas to fill one or more inflatable chambers to control one or more aspects of an airbag deployment. In some instances, the airbags can suffer from one or more drawbacks or may perform less than optimally in one or more respects. Embodiments disclosed herein provide improvement in performance of curtain airbags.


Described is a fat or oil composition which comprises at least 35 wt % of a diacylglycerol, the constituent fatty acids of said diacylglycerol satisfying the following equation: (an amount of a cis-form unsaturated fatty acid)/(an amount of a saturated fatty acid+an amount of a trans-form unsaturated fatty acid)≧6, the usual intake of which as an edible oil makes it possible to reduce arteriosclerotic factors in blood, leading to the prevention of arteriosclerosis, and furthermore, various degenerative diseases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fat or oil composition capable of reducing arteriosclerotic factors in blood when taken, similarly to a usual fat or oil, in the daily life.
2. Description of the Related Art
Arteriosclerosis is a risk factor of various circulatory diseases such as hypertension and thrombosis. Arteriosclerosis is caused by hypercholesterolemia, formation of thrombus or the like. The state of a high total cholesterol level is generally called hypercholesterolemia. The cholesterol in blood is classified into HDL, LDL, VLDL and the like by specific gravity. Among them, LDL is a principal risk factor of arteriosclerosis, while HDL is said to be useful for the prevention of arteriosclerosis. It is therefore important to increase the HDL cholesterol level in blood for the prevention of arteriosclerosis.
On the other hand, local formation of thrombi in blood is also considered as one of the factors of arteriosclerosis. When the activity of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) which serves to control the production of plasmin, that is, fibrinolysin in blood is exasperated, the production of plasmin is suppressed and formation of thrombi tends to occur. It is therefore essential to lower the activity of PAI-1 for the prevention of arteriosclerosis.
With regards to arteriosclerosis, prevention by the daily dietary control is more important than treatment. There is accordingly a demand for a substance which can be taken easily in the daily life and at the same time, can reduce the above-described arteriosclerotic factor.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A pair of carabiner mounting members are rigidly mounted or mountable to each top rail of a basket rescue stretcher. The carabiner mounting members are mounted or mountable spaced longitudinally apart along the each top rail. Each carabiner mounting member extends into the stretcher cavity and defines a carabiner receiving opening which lies in a first plane which is perpendicular both to a vertical second plane containing the corresponding top rail to which the carabiner mounting member is mounted or mountable and to a horizontal third plane which contains the pair of top rails on opposite sides of the stretcher.

This invention relates to an improvement in basket rescue stretchers and in particular to a carabiner attachment for stretchers such as stokes litters.
A basket rescue stretcher of the type utilized by emergency personnel is well known. It generally comprises a sturdy, light-weight, open flame manufactured from stainless steel tubing or like material, comprising both longitudinal and lateral components which are secured by welding or the like, into an integral unit. Common to most rescue stretchers of this type is a sturdy peripheral top rail surrounding the basket stretcher opening, which lends rigidity and strength to the stretcher and also provides a convenient hand-hold for emergency personnel when transporting and injured patient.
Conventional basket rescue stretchers are manufactured from stainless steel components, which are welded together. They generally have a sturdy peripheral top rail of 1-inch diameter, which surrounds the basket stretcher opening and one or more intermediate rails of xc2xd inch diameter material, spaced from and generally parallel to the top rail. Lateral components, or ribs, are secured by welding to the underside of top rail and to the outside of the intermediate rails. The first intermediate rail is generally spaced 2 inches clear of the top rail.
The top rail is generally the most convenient attachment point for a tether such as ropes or webbing or the like, which enable emergency personnel to either raise or lower the basket rescue stretcher adjacent to a building or an escarpment. Such tethers are commonly secured to the top rail by screwgate carabiners, which are inserted through a pre-formed loop made in the tether and clipped over the peripheral top rail. The tether may be a so-called litter bridle or sling arrangement which may include four equal length ropes or webbing belts connected to a single lifting ring.
Such carabiners are sturdy connection devices, ideally suited to quick connection and release situations. They have a smoothly contoured xe2x80x98Dxe2x80x99 shape that will only minimally abrade ropes or harnesses. Carabiners may often have corner radii which are smaller than the radius of the tubular top rail. For example a typical top rail may have a radius of xc2xd to ⅝ of an inch (1 to 1xc2xc inch diameter) whereas a carabiner may often have a corner radius which is significantly smaller. Thus, the difference in top rail and carabiner diameters prevents the carabiner from properly contacting the underside of the top rail of the basket stretcher as tension is applied. In situations where a xe2x80x9cshock loadxe2x80x9d is placed on the basket stretcher, such as if a loaded stretcher was dropped a short distance and then arrested by the carabiners and connecting tethers, opposite sides of the tubular top rail could be crushed slightly, thereby weakening the rail and perhaps rendering the stretcher unsafe for use.
When the carabiner is clipped over the peripheral top rail of a basket rescue stretcher and tension applied to the connecting tethers, the carabiner will slide along the top rail unless the direction of the tension is close to a right angle with the top rail, or movement of the carabiner is arrested by contact with one of the lateral frame components secured to the top rail. Such movement of the connecting point between tether and stretcher in undesirable since it results in an imbalance of both stretcher and patient and could further endanger the patient.
Further, as tension is applied to the tether straps during suspension of the basket stretcher, the top rail of the basket stretcher prohibits the carabiner from rotating so as to lie in the plane of the tether straps or webbing were the webbing to remain flat, resulting in the carabiner being misaligned generally 90 degrees from such an orientation causing a helical twist in the straps or webbing.
Clipping the carabiner over the top rail of the basket stretcher places a portion of the carabiner in an exposed position outside the periphery of the stretcher. Such an outwardly exposed portion may snag on surface irregularities on the adjacent surface of a building or an escarpment as the basket stretcher is raised or lowered resulting in tipping and jerking of the basket stretcher as it elevates or descends. Further, such contact may result in rapid abrading and deterioration of the carabiner.
The stretcher of the present invention has attachment brackets which are inwardly disposed into the stretcher basket and located near the fore and aft ends of the stretcher, located equidistant from a longitudinal axis of the stretcher. The brackets permit the stretcher to be raised or lowered adjacent to a vertical or inclined surface, such as the outside of a building or an escarpment, in a manner which is relatively balanced and stable and which reduces snagging or abrading of lifting equipment against the adjacent surface of the slope.
The attachment brackets according to the present invention may be, as an example, manufactured from xc2xd inch diameter stainless steel rod. The brackets may form a generally inverted xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d shape, having first and second legs. The first leg may be substantially shorter than the second. The internal corner radius between the legs may be, for example, xc2xd inch, so as to match the corner radius on most standard carabiners. The attachment brackets may be secured by welding, or other rigid fastening, to the inside of the basket stretcher so as to extend between the peripheral top rail and, for example, the immediately adjacent second rail.
The first leg of the attachment bracket may be mounted to the inside face of the top rail so as to extend inwardly of the bracket and radially downwardly from the top rail. The second leg of the bracket may extend downwardly and may be angled toward the outside of the basket stretcher so as to intersect in a rigid mounting to the upper surface of the immediately adjacent lower rail.
The mounting member according to one aspect of the present invention is for mounting to at least an upper rail of a basket rescue stretcher, for example so as to provide for clipping of a carabiner in a generally vertical plane orthogonal to the upper rail. The mounting member is adapted for mounting, at at least one end of the mounting member, to an inner side of the rail so as to project the mounting member into the interior of the stretcher, as defined by the top rail of the stretcher. In one embodiment the mounting member is for mounting, at an oppositely disposed end, to a longitudinal member of said basket rescue stretcher extending longitudinally along the basket. The mounting member may be provided for retrofit to existing basket rescue stretchers or may be formed as part of, or mounted to as part of the manufacture of new basket rescue stretchers.
The mounting member is rigid and may be a bracket, or loop, or apertured plate which is mountable or mounted to the stretcher so that when a clip, carabiner, hook or the like is attached to the mounting member, twisting of the sling webbing is avoided and the mounting member does not have a portion projecting outwardly of the circumference of the stretcher opening or rim.
In a further aspect, the present invention may be characterized as a basket rescue stretcher apparatus or system which includes a pair of top rails extending longitudinally along upper opposite side edges of the stretcher, so as to define all opening into a stretcher cavity within the stretcher, and a pair of carabiner mounting members rigidly mounted or mountable to each top rail. The carabiner mounting members are mounted or mountable spaced longitudinally apart along the each top rail. Each carabiner mounting member extends into the stretcher cavity and defines a carabiner receiving opening which lies in a first plane which is perpendicular both to a vertical second plane containing the corresponding top rail to which the carabiner mounting member is mounted or mountable and to a horizontal third plane which contains the pair of top rails. The carabiner mounting members do not protrude outwardly from a circumference of the stretcher defined by the pair of top rails, when a carabiner is mounted through the carabiner receiving opening, it passes through the opening, that is, that portion of the carabiner which passes through the opening is aligned substantially parallel to the corresponding top rail to which the carabiner mounting member is mounted or mountable.
In one embodiment the stretcher further includes a pair of side rails extending longitudinally along opposite sides of the stretcher between the pair of top rails and a floor of the stretcher. In such an embodiment the carabiner mounting members may also be rigidly mounted to the pair of side rails. In such an embodiment the pair of side rails may be substantially parallel to the pair of top rails, and each carabiner mounting member may be an elongate member having an upper end mounted to a corresponding top rail and a lower end mounted to a corresponding side rail.
In one embodiment of the present invention the elongate member may be a bar having an inverted L-shape so as to form the carabiner receiving opening as an upper elbow of the bar protruding inwardly of the corresponding top rail and side rail. In another embodiment, the elongate member may be a plate having an aperture, for example in its upper end, so that the aperture forms the carabiner receiving opening. In such embodiments, the plate and bar have a thickness which is not larger than the size of the opening in an elbow in a carabiner to which the carabiner mounting member would be mounted.

Carabiner attachment bracket for a basket rescue stretcher


A Doherty amplifier includes a carrier amplifier including a first FET, the first FET having a plurality of gate electrodes, and a peaking amplifier including a second FET, the second FET having a plurality of gate electrodes, a gate-to-gate interval of the gate electrodes of the second FET being shorter than a gate-to-gate interval of the first FET.

(i) Technical Field
A certain aspect of the embodiments discussed herein is related to a Doherty amplifier and a semiconductor device. Another aspect of the embodiments is related to a Doherty amplifier and a semiconductor device including FETs.
(ii) Related Art
A Doherty amplifier is used as radio communications amplifier (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-322993). The Doherty amplifier includes a carrier amplifier and a peaking amplifier. The carrier amplifier is an amplifier that primarily amplifies an input signal. The peaking amplifier is an amplifier that amplifies the peak of the input signal. For example, the carrier amplifier always amplifies the input signal. In contrast, the peaking amplifier amplifies the input signal only when the input signal has power equal to or higher than a predetermined level.
The Doherty amplifier has a difficulty in downsizing because of the use of both the carrier amplifier and the peaking amplifier.

Doherty amplifier and semiconductor device

Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations, Inc.


A method and apparatus for extracting surface representation from images and video data for segmenting image plane according to the surface connectivity, and identifying areas of images taken by a moving camera according to the object surfaces wherefrom the areas of images are taken, are disclosed. The invention discloses a method and apparatus comprising a plurality of processing modules for extracting from images in a video sequence the occluding contours delineating images into regions in accordance with the spatial connectivity of the correspondent visible surfaces, and diffeomorphism relations between areas of images taken from different perspective centers for identifying image areas of different frames as of the surface of same object, and specifying the fold contours of the surfaces that owns the contour, and thus producing the surface representations from video images taken from persistent objects by a moving camera.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to video data processing systems and methods and more particularly to systems and methods of using computers for segmenting image plane according to the surface connectivity, and identifying areas of images taken by a moving camera according to the object surfaces wherefrom the areas of images are taken. The image segmentations and object based identifications thus constitute a topological surface representation of objects. The invention discloses a method and apparatus comprising a plurality of processing modules for extracting from images in a video sequence the occluding contours delineating images into regions in accordance with the spatial connectivity of the correspondent visible surfaces, and diffeomorphism relations between areas of images taken from different perspective centers for identifying image areas of different frames as of the surface of same object, and specifying the fold contours of the surfaces that owns the contour, and thus producing the surface representations from video images taken from persistent objects by a moving camera.
Many concepts and terminologies used in this invention description can be found in Gibson's book "The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception".
2. Description of the Related Art
Techniques of using digital computers for extracting visual information from video data including automatic object and human detection, recognition and tracking, object and human motion pattern learning, purposeful motion detection and classification, anomaly detection and classification, are developed for different purposes. These are related arts. At the core of the application systems are the techniques of image segmentation and object tracking, the necessary steps that transform the sensory data streams composed of tremendous quantity of transient pixels into a much smaller number of stable discrete units upon them the object recognition, object (human) motion pattern recognition, and more complex spatial-temporal event analysis may further be performed. The intermediate representation established by ways of image segmentation and image tracking on one hand relates to sensory data, on the other hand it relates to higher level symbolic conceptual representation: objects, things, facts, and events.
Video image segmentation and object tracking techniques were studied in various university research institutes as well as commercial sector R&D branches. Numerous research articles and books on object segmentation and tracking were published. Current art of computational vision uses object appearance information such as pixel motion, optical flow, brightness, color, and texture to delineate image into discrete areas, and tracks them in video sequences. These methods are generally not referenced to surface representation. They are addressed in terms of segmentation of image patterns and tracking of image patterns.
The 3D reconstructions of visible scene were studied in computer vision community and algorithms and computer programs were developed and resulted from such studies. The purpose of these works was to specify (construct) depth maps of visible surfaces from binocular stereopsis, particularly through measurement of disparities of correspondent pixels in overlapped regions of a stereo pair of images. These methods were not aimed to extract surface topological information, particularly those for specifying the scopes of each individual visible surface of one object in a scene, and those for specifying spatial separations between them and the manner these visible surfaces spatially extended into occluded, and those for identifying visible surfaces seen from different perspectives via their partial overlaps in the 3D space.
Scientific data from vision research in recent years have shown that human vision system builds surface representation of objects at an early stage of visual perception. It is through the surface representation human vision system is able to have the general percepts of individual identifiable discrete persistent objects. Surfaces are first of all the topological objects. The existence of surface representation indicates human vision system is able to extract topological information of the physical constructions of its environment: ground, objects, other humans and animals, etc. In past decade, neurobiological data indicated that occluding contours are extracted in monkey's V2 area. Two sides of an occluding contour are images of spatially separated local surfaces. In monkey's vision system, the information of spatial continuation of a visible surface passing an occluding contour is coded in the form of the border ownership of the contour. Images of a surface of an object taken from different perspectives are related by perspective mappings. Patches of different images taken with a moving video camera are related by a perspective mapping representing a same object surface. The perspective mappings between images and occluding contours thus constitute the surface representation of the environment.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,535,302 and 5,911,035 and the article by Tsao, T. and Tsao D. "Lie group model neuromorphic geometric engine for real-time terrain reconstruction from stereoscopic aerial photos," published in: Proceedings of SPIE—Volume 3077 Applications and Science of Artificial Neural Networks III, 1997, on pp. 535-544, described methods and apparatus for extracting image affine transformation, the first order Taylor approximation of perspective mappings, presents a technique for computing approximations of perspectives mappings of image patches taken from different perspectives.
Various image intensity edge detection algorithms and codes published in various computer vision journals and books and other sources are open to public.

Method and apparatus for building surface representations of 3D objects from stereo images


The present invention provides a cationic conductor comprising a block copolymer comprising: a polymer moiety having a structural unit represented by formula (1):

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ionic conductive organic electrolyte and an ionic conductive polymer electrolyte.
2. Description of Related Art
Advances in electronics have allowed the performances of electronic devices to be enhanced, and electronic devices have been miniaturized and made portable. Accordingly, secondary batteries with high energy density have been needed as power sources for such devices. In response to such need, nonaqueous electrolyte system secondary batteries with significantly enhanced energy density, i.e., lithium ion secondary batteries with organic electrolytic solution (hereafter simply referred to as "lithium batteries"), have been developed, and they have become widely prevalent in recent years. Lithium batteries use, for example, lithium metal complex oxides such as lithium-cobalt complex oxides as positive electrode active materials. They primarily use as their negative electrode active materials multilayered carbon materials capable of intercalating lithium ions in the layered structure (formation of lithium intercalation compounds) and deintercalating lithium ions out of the layered structure.
Lithium batteries use a combustible organic electrolytic solution. Thus, securing of safety in the case of overuse, such as overcharge or over-discharge, is becoming difficult with the enhancement in energy density of the batteries. Accordingly, lithium polymer batteries in which the combustible organic electrolytic solution has been replaced with a solid lithium-ionic conductive polymer were developed.
A mechanism of an ionic conductive polymer for conducting ions that has heretofore been examined is known to occur in conjunction with the motion of a polymer molecular chain. Ionic conductivity is governed by mobility of the molecular chain and by motion of a molecular chain having high activation energy, which is required for segmental motion. Thus, ionic conductivity at room temperature is approximately 10−4 Scm−1, but it becomes significantly lower as the temperature drops.
The present inventors conceived of the application of single bond rotation with low activation energy to a mechanism for conducting ions that is not governed by motion of a molecular chain.
An organic group having a functional group, which is a ligand coordinated to a lithium ion, is bonded to another organic group through a single bond, and thus, free rotation can be realized in a wide temperature range. This rotation allows lithium ion exchange between adjacent similar functional groups, and ions are conducted via such exchange. This mechanism of conducting ions has allowed realization of the preparation of a polymer electrolyte having excellent temperature dependence (JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-6273 A).

Abstract: wherein R represents an organic group obtained via polymerization of monomer compounds having polymerizable unsaturated linkages; Q represents an n+1-valence organic group bonded to R through a single bond; Z represents a functional group capable of forming an ionic bond to or having coordination ability to a cation; Mk+ represents a k-valence cation; and n and m are each independently an integer of 1 or larger, provided that Z forms an ionic or coordination bond to a cation; and a polymer moiety having addition polymerizable monomers.


A system and a method for estimating a torque and a rotational speed of a motor are disclosed. The system includes a sound receiving device, a feature extraction device, and an artificial neural network module. In the method, at first, a plurality of training data are provided, wherein the training data includes a plurality of history sound feature values of the motor and history torque values or history rotation values corresponding thereto. Thereafter, an artificial neural network stored in the artificial neural network module is trained by the history data to obtain a motor model of the motor. Then, a motor sound signal made by the motor in a working state is received. Thereafter, sound feature values of the motor sound signal are extracted. Thereafter, the rotational speed value and the torque value are computed by the motor model in accordance with the at least one sound feature value.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for estimating a torque and a rotational speed of a motor.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, when using motors to perform variable speed driving, various mechanical products in the market mostly need to use a speed sensor for detecting the position of a motor rotor as a base for speed feedback. However, either an electromagnetic or optical sensor used for speed feedback on the motor operation will result in great limitations and cost burden, not to mention the mechanical maintenance problems of the sensor. Therefore, a sensorless driving technology is developed.
Although the sensorless driving technology may resolve most of the problems caused by the sensor, yet most of the sensorless driving methods require a high-speed digital signal processor (DSP) to complete a multitude of mathematic operations with a complicated process, and nowadays, the high-speed DPS is quite expensive.
Hence, there is a need to develop a system and a method for precisely estimating a torque and a rotational speed of a motor without needing to use a conventional electromagnetic or optical sensor for speed feedback and a high-speed DSP for mathematic operations,

System and method for estimating torque and rotational speed of motor


The specification and drawing figures describe and show a method and system of monitoring CANbus information across an integrated wireless equipment management system and a mobile wireless communications system. The CANbus, mounted in a vehicle, provides communication and diagnostic information among vehicle components that, because the CANbus also is operatively connectable to the integrated wireless equipment management system, may be transmitted across that system. The CANbus includes one or more original parameters associated with sensors that are converted into virtual sensors to provide selective vehicle information to a terminal of the integrated wireless equipment management system.

Mobile asset management is a major concern in various transportation industries such as industrial heavy equipment, trucking, railroad, rental equipment, and similar industries. In the industrial heavy equipment and trucking industries, for example, an asset manager may desire to track the status and location of several different, assets in a fleet. An asset manager may want to know, for example, if a remote vehicle is in service, where the vehicle is located, what is happening in connection with the vehicle's operation, how a remote vehicle operator is reacting to conditions confronting fee vehicle, as well as a wide range of variable vehicle operation and performance criteria.
To enable an asset manager to monitor a remote vehicle's states, including the vehicle's operation and performance, a system for at least two-way communications between one or more customer base stations, such as a vehicle dispatcher or asset manager, and a remote vehicle, is increasingly in demand. Some objectives of such a system include not only facilitating communications, but also data development, data storage, and receipt and transmissions of information and reports in connection with the remote vehicle. At least one integrated wireless equipment management system to accomplish those objectives has been developed which includes several useful features. An exemplary integrated wireless equipment management system used in connection with industrial heavy equipment is QUALCOMM Incorporated's GlobalTRACS™ system. In combination with a mobile wireless communications system, the integrated, wireless equipment management system allows customers to track and collect vehicle data, operator driving data, and transportation network data; allows an asset manager to monitor various problems confronted by vehicle operators in connection with operation of a remote vehicle within a transportation network; and allows an asset manager to monitor vehicle operating and deployment conditions useful to the asset manager.
GlobalTRACS™, which is, as indicated, an integrated wireless equipment management system, meets unique requirements of the construction, industry trades by providing a system, that automatically monitors a wide range of information and data, that the system converts into actionable information, allowing an asset manager to acquire knowledge needed to proactively manage remote industrial heavy equipment. The system therefore maximizes equipment utilization, enhances productivity, reduces costs, and decreases risk of loss from theft and unauthorized use, and increases profitability. In addition, the GlobalTRACS™ system may be integrated into back-office systems to further improve productivity and streamline processes.
GlobalTRACS™ terminals, and perhaps other an integrated wireless equipment management systems, use sensors on a vehicle to achieve a number of equipment monitoring functions that include at least: (a) detecting when a sensor is breached, that, is, when a sensor exceeds a configurable, threshold for longer than a configurable time; (b) detecting a sensor's return to normal, that it when the sensor reports operating within a configurable threshold for longer than a configurable normal time; (c) supporting a configurable hystereses, or retardation of an effect as conditions change, in connection with a limit threshold,; (d) detecting a breach that may be above or below a threshold defined by a configurable parameter; (e) generating one or more status reports or alert messages if a sensor state changes to breached; (f) generating one or more status reports or alert messages as a sensor returns to a normal state; and (h) generating and maintaining reports about the accumulated time a sensor has remained in a breached state.
In addition, efforts to achieve and ensure communications between and among remote vehicles and asset managers also have been enhanced by including with a mobile wireless communications system a position determining system such as a Satellite Positioning System ("SPS) and/or a terrestrial positioning system. Alternatively, systems such as Orbcomm, among others, may be used for satellite communications, while a GPS system, as defined in this document, may be used as a positioning system. A mobile wireless communications system, therefore, may be in part terrestrial, and may be used either independently of an SPS system, or in conjunction with an SPS system, such as the GlobalTRACS™ system, among others. Such systems are capable of processing and managing message traffic at least between an asset manager and a vehicle. Such systems also generally include software and programs used by an asset manager to receive and send information over the wireless network, and perform a range of additional functions over the Internet and or World Wide Web. In addition, a mobile wireless communications system also is capable of using alternative channels of communications that allow use of conventional computers that may not be wireless.
Vehicles that use an integrated wireless equipment management system capable of communicating across a mobile wireless communications system usually are equipped with an electrical bus (occasionally spelled "buss"). A bus or buss is a physical electrical interface capable of allowing many devices or components to share the same electric connection. An electrical bus allows signals to be transferred between and among devices, in turn allowing information or power to be shared. A bus often takes the form of an array of wires that terminate at a connector designed to allow one or mere devices to be plugged onto the bus.
Accordingly, a vehicle bus is an electronic communications network that interconnects components in a vehicle. Because of requirements unique to various types of vehicles, including as non-exclusive examples environmental constraints, cost, reliability and real, time characteristics, computer networking technologies such as Ethernet and TCP/IP rarely are used in combination with a vehicle bus. Typical of vehicle electronic components that communicate with each other on and across a vehicle bus are engine control modules, also referred to as electronic control units or an electronic control module ("ECM" or "ECU," but collectively in this document "ECM"); transmission control modules ("TCM"); and anti-lock brake system modules ("ABS"), among others. An ECM may control a vehicle's fuel injection system, ignition timing, and or an idle speed control system. Depending on design, an ECM also may interrupt operation of the air-conditioning system, or may control power to a fuel pump through a control relay. Generally, an ECM includes an 8-bit microprocessor, random access memory ("RAM"), read only memory ("ROM"), and an input/output interface, among other components.
Development of vehicle network technology has advanced in part because of government regulations, especially in the United States, that have been imposed on vehicle operation to make vehicles responsive to environmental goals. For example, following imposition of limitations placed on gases emitted from automobiles, achieving the environmental standards became attainable only through use of on-board vehicle electronic and computing devices. Such on-board electronic devices also contribute to vehicle performance, ease of manufacture, and cost effectiveness.
An ECM typically receives input from one or more sensors. A sensor may monitor speed, temperature, pressure, and similar conditions, providing data useful in computations of other data. Actuators also may be used to enforce or implement actions determined by an ECM in response to such sensor data, such as turning a cooling fan on, changing a gear, and similar actions. Modules often need to exchange data among themselves during normal operation of a vehicle. For example, an engine may need to inform, a transmission about engine speed, an ABS module may need to inform the engine and transmission that one or more wheels are locking, and similar information. Accordingly, a modern vehicle network has become a medium of data exchange.
However, wiring a vehicle to operatively interconnect all modules to achieve such data exchanges presents extremely difficult wiring problems. In addition, it may be desirable to monitor performance parameters associated with one or more sensors on vehicles having different or varying features and characteristics. It is not atypical for an asset manager to be concerned with more than one vehicle, and the vehicle operation and performance criteria of those vehicles. Responding to such variability presents complicated wiring diagnoses.
In response to those problems, vehicle manufacturers install electronic networks in vehicles. Electronic networks expedite vehicle manufacture. Electronic networks also assist in vehicle maintenance. Electronic networks further provide the capability and flexibility of allowing addition or removal of vehicle options without affecting the vehicle's entire wiring architecture. Today, each module, or node, on the vehicle network is a control module, controlling specific components related to specific functionalities, and capable of communicating with the other modules as necessary, using a standard protocol, over the on-board vehicle network.
To facilitate the use of electronic networks in vehicles, vehicle busses were developed. One such common vehicle bus includes a controller area network ("CAN"). A CANbus has proven to be a relatively inexpensive, low-speed serial bus for interconnecting automotive components. CAN is a serial bus standard for connecting at least ECM's. CAN was initially created for the automotive market as a vehicle bus, but now is available for a number of vehicles including heavy industrial equipment.
To further enhance use of a CANbus in a vehicle electronic network, standards have been developed. The CAN data link layer protocol is standardized in ISO 11898-1 (2003). This standard describes mainly the data link layer and some aspects of the physical layer of the ISO/OSI. All other protocol layers are left to a network designer's choice, a fact that in part introduces a problem solved by the method, system, and apparatus described, illustrated and claimed in this document. To be compatible with the CAN standard, an implementation must accept other standard formats; one such standard is SAE J1939.
SAE J1939 also is a vehicle bus standard used for communication and diagnostics among vehicle components, particularly on heavy duty vehicles in the United States. SAE J1939 defines five layers in the 7-layer OSI network model, and this includes the CAN 2.0b specification, using a 29-bit "extended" identifier for the physical and data-link layers. The session and presentation layers are not part of the specification. The J1939 standard defines an index called a Parameter Group Number ("PGN") that is embedded in the message's 29-bit identifier. A PGN identifies a message's function and associated data. J1939 seeks to define standard PGN's to encompass a wide range of automotive purposes. For example, there exist predefined PGN's for information such as engine rpm.
However, each vehicle manufacturer is provided optional PGN's for the manufacturer's proprietary use. Thus, a range of PGN's, identified as 00FF0016 through 00FFFF16 inclusive, is reserved for proprietary use. The ability to include proprietary parameters in connection with various vehicles introduces yet another problem solved by the method, system, and apparatus described, illustrated and claimed in this document; proprietary parameters, those proprietary to a vehicle manufacturer, may he unknown to a vehicle user or asset manager.
The PGN is a combination of the reserved bit (always 0), the data page bit (currently only 0 because 1 is reserved for future use), the PDU Format ("PF"), and PDU Specific ("PS"). PDU stands for Protocol Data Unit, and may also be read as the message format. The PF and PS both are a byte, or 8-bits, long. The PS is dependent on the value in the PF field. If the PF value is between 0 and 239, the PS field will contain the destination address of the node that will receive the message. If an address called the Global Address, or FF16, is used, all nodes on the CANbus will receive a message. This type of message, one that can be directed to a specific ECM on the CANbus by sending the message to its address, is called, a PDU1 message.
If, however, a PF field is between 240 and 255, then the PS field will contain a Group Extension ("GE"). The GE provides a larger set of values to identify messages that are broadcast to all nodes on the network. This type of message, one that is sent to all ECM's on the CANbus, is called a PDU2 message.
The PGN uniquely identifies the Parameter Group ("PG") that is being transmitted in the message. Each PG, or a grouping of specific parameters, has a definition that includes the assignment of each parameter within the 8-byte data field, the transmission rate, and the priority of the message. The structure of a PGN currently permits a total of up to 8,672different parameter groups to be defined per page. When an ECM receives a message, the ECM uses the PGN in the identifier to recognize the type of data sent in the message.
The J1939 standard also describes other parameters used in the J1939 network. A Suspect Parameter Number ("SPN") is a number that has been assigned by the SAE committee to a specific parameter. Each SPN includes data length, in bytes; data type; resolution; offset; range; and a tag, or label, for reference. One or more SPN's that share common characteristics will be grouped into a Parameter Group ("PG") transmitted to the network using the same PGN. The message may also include a source address ("SA"), information about raw breach threshold, hysteresis, starting position, and the number of bits, units, factor, and offset.
On a J1939 network, each vehicle component or device has a unique address. Each message sent by a component or device contains a source address. 255 addresses are possible. Each device type has a preferred address. Before a device may use an address, it must register itself on the CANbus, a procedure called "address claiming," in which the device sends an "AddressClaim" parameter group with the desired source address. The PG contains a 64-bit device name. The device name contains some information about the device and describes its function. Examples of such messages are illustrated in this document as FIGS. 4A-4C.
Thus, the SAE J1939 standard defines a large number of parameters that may or may not be available on a CANbus installed on a particular vehicle. Vehicle manufacturers and equipment manufacturers for vehicles decide which parameters to support. Vehicle manufacturers and equipment manufacturers for vehicles may also add unique proprietary parameters.
Accordingly, although CANbus and the standards that have been developed, to enhance use of the CANbus and its associated sensors combine to provide elegant solutions for what they were designed to do, they include limitations for vehicle owners and asset managers seeking to monitor a number of vehicles that may have varying operation and performance criteria.
At least one limitation arises from the fact that original equipment manufacturers deploy a CANbus system that is vehicle-specific. The CANbuses of most industrial heavy equipment vehicles, such as construction equipment and construction vehicles, often are limited to specific performance parameters, and may not include performance parameters sought to be monitored by a vehicle owner and/or assets manager. Regarding industrial heavy equipment such as construction equipment, significant additional complexity arises. SAE J1939 is the vehicle network communication standard used for communication and diagnostics by industrial heavy equipment, such as construction equipment and the heavy duty truck industry, predominantly in the United States. Proprietary standards may therefore affect usefulness of an integrated wireless equipment management system. If CANbus information cannot be monitored due to proprietary standards that the integrated wireless equipment management system cannot read or react to, an asset manager may be usable to monitor vehicle operation and performance criteria across an integrated wireless equipment management system.
At least one problem, therefore, to be solved is to provide a method, system, and apparatus that is capable of monitoring CANbus information by a vehicle owner or asset manager that overcomes the limitations of a CANbus due to undisclosed proprietary and non-public parameters associated with a particular vehicle's CANbus.