The present invention relates to road traffic information and guidance server systems, and a method thereof, and especially to a traffic information and guidance server system providing distribution of targeted traffic related information and guidance to road users located at specific geographical locations, and a method thereof.

Traffic information and guidance systems are more and more important tools to be able to cope with traffic conditions in cities and on densely trafficked highways.
In prior art it is known how to utilize Global Positioning System (GPS) transceivers in navigation terminals installed in cars, and how pedestrians can find destinations when walking and being guided by for example apps from Google Map installed in Smartphones being equipped with GPS transceivers.
Such solutions are usually of great help, but there may be incidents for example which can block or which require changes of a selected route after a navigation terminal for example has calculated an optimal route to follow. Further, if many road users are travelling at the same time, for example to a major sport event, the optimal route found by a navigation tool may no longer be an optimal route. This scenario illustrates an important aspect of road guidance systems since an optimal route in the sense of being objectively the shortest route between two geographical locations may not subjectively be viewed or be experienced as an optimal route by all road users. The time of travel between two points are of course important, but there might also exist road user preferences like a personal perception about what is the best route to follow, or a road user wants to pass a certain point of interest like a viewpoint, or a restaurant etc. Therefore, it is necessary with a more complex measure of an optimal route like a metric that takes into account both objective measurable traffic conditions as well as subjective user preferences having an impact on a specific traffic advice or guidance.
There exist prior art mathematical theories that can model some typical examples of user behaviour in traffic and the impact on road conditions. For example, it is common to look at game theory and one important concept is the concept of Nash equilibrium. A simple way of explaining the concept of the Nash equilibrium related to traffic is by a simple example of two road users. Road user A and road user B are in Nash equilibrium if road user A is making the best decision for a travel route by taking into account road user B's decision for his travel route, and road user B is making the best decision he can by taking into account road user A's decision. Likewise, a group of road users are in Nash equilibrium if each one is making the best decision about the traffic that he or she can do by taking into account the decisions of the others in the traffic.
Another interesting aspect of road conditions and improvement of traffic flow is the availability of road capacity between a starting point and a destination point. One could believe that the traffic flow with respect to travel time between these points would improve if the road capacity increases. However, a German mathematician Dietrich Braess found what is denoted the Braess paradox. The paradox states that adding extra capacity to a network when moving entities selfishly choose their own routes in the network may reduce overall performance. This is because the Nash equilibrium of such a system is not necessarily optimal. Selfish behaviour does not favour cooperation between road users in the traffic.
For example, in Seoul in South Korea an increase in traffic flow capacity around the city were found when removing an existing motorway segment. In Stuttgart in Germany, in 1969, a new road network did not provide the expected improvement in travel time before closing a new section of the road for traffic. The same phenomena occurred in New York City in 1990 when traffic in the 42nd street was blocked. This reduced the traffic congestion in the area.
Traffic flow problems are phenomena that interests mathematicians and development of many theories and empirical models trying to make traffic forecasts about traffic conditions are popular in the mathematical community.
Frank Knight did some of the first attempts to produce a mathematical theory with respect to traffic flow in the 1920s. The attempts provided a theory of traffic equilibrium, which was refined into Wardrop's first and second principles of equilibrium in 1952.
Even with the significant computer processing power that exists today there has been no substantial results from systems applied to real traffic flow conditions. Current traffic models uses a mixture of empirical and theoretical techniques. These models are then making traffic forecasts and the forecasts tries to identify areas of congestion where the current traffic on roads needs rerouting.
Therefore, not just only physical conditions provide basis for proper guidance in traffic. A combination of physical available capacity and user behaviour and preferences with respect to utilizing available capacity of road systems is the foundations for proper advices and guidance in the traffic.
The psychological aspect of road user behaviour is best illustrated by the simple fact that most road users that need to make a deviation from an intended route due to traffic congestion for example, will choose what appears to be the best alternative route around the problem. When everyone makes the same alternative route, which usually is an obvious choice, this route will probably soon experience congestion also. When applying a navigation tool to find an alternative route, the algorithm will probably also propose the same route to everyone using the same navigation system or algorithm.
Accidents or incidents are happening at random and prediction in advance is impossible, which is adding complexity to the problem. Further, the impact on traffic flow due to an accident or incident is not always evident. Road traffic passing a location of a road accident will of course be influenced by the accident, for example just by the fact that it is human to slow down the speed and look at what has happened. If the traffic slows down and the traffic density is high, the lower speed condition may start to propagate throughout a larger and larger area. Therefore, an accident or incident is seldom a stationary phenomenon limited to a certain geographical area, but is a situation that can have a growing impact on traffic conditions over time, but being limited within a specific geographical area, and/or affect a larger part of the geographical area over time. Reversal of the situation will usually happen when for example emergency agencies starts to clean up after an accident or incident. First, the size of the affected area may start to decrease, and over time the traffic conditions in the area of the accident will return to the traffic situation before the accident. Therefore, a road accident or incidents in the traffic will be associated with an impact factor magnitude reflecting seriousness of a traffic incident or event, and an impact area size around the accident or incident that respectively are functions of time.
Even planned road works may appear to road users as an unexpected incident because it may happen they missed a notice informing about the work in progress in the news, or have overlooked an information display detailing the road work before they arrived at an area affected by the road work. It could also be that a signpost has not yet been put in place.
From a road user's perspective, the road user may activate a navigation terminal and enter a planned destination. The system then calculates a route to follow, and if there is an accident or incident that will influence the traffic conditions somewhere along the calculated route, a traffic server may online notify the navigation tool, and the navigation system can provide an alternative route online even when travelling.
The time dependency of the impact factor magnitude and impact area size can make the proposals of alternative routes made by the navigation system discussed above obsolete. During the time span from the notification of the accident or incident from a traffic server until a road user approaches the impact area, the impact area size can for example grow. Dependent on current position of the car, there might no longer exist any alternative route out of the area since the time dependent evolution of the accident or incident now locks (due to emerging queues blocking junctions for example) the possible alternative routes out of the area.
Therefore, besides time dependent impact factor magnitude and time dependent impact area size, there will also be a time and distance dependent point of a specific location relative to for example an incident or event where a road user can or should be notified about the traffic problems ahead of him. According to an aspect of the present invention, such a location should serve as a decision point for the road user, wherein the road user can receive guidance and where the road user can decide about his further travelling. The road user may also receive an advice from a traffic server monitoring traffic conditions, for example about alternative roads. Before a road user passes a location of a decision point there are available alternative routes around the specific traffic problem by definition. If no available alternative routes were available after passing the decision point there would be nothing to decide, hence not a decision point.
Due to the dynamic behaviour of an impact factor magnitude and an impact area size, the relevance of traffic messages related to an incident or event may be short lived. Therefore, a traffic server system intending to provide correct traffic information and/or advice to road users can only rely on up to date information. However, the question remains when a traffic server can submit which specific up to date information to which road user. On one hand, a traffic server may acquire traffic information from police, fire brigades, from TV stations monitoring traffic from helicopters etc. On the other hand, only the road user knows which specific routes the road user will follow, and therefore only the road user can decide which specific traffic information and guidance a traffic server can provide for him. If the road user request such information too early, the information may be obsolete when arriving at a destination linked to a traffic problem. If the road user requests the information too late, the traffic conditions may trap the road user. Therefore, there is a contradiction between the requirements of the traffic server and the road users. In a sense, there is no correlation between them with respect to their own actions, their knowledge and current geographical positions and needs.
The decision point location relative to a location of an accident or incident depends for example on topological factors, i.e. how many side roads exist between a current position of a car and the location of an accident or incident. This dependency may also be dependent on direction of approach towards an accident or incident. For example, if an accident happens at the outskirt of a town there will probably be more alternative roads available if one comes from the city centre compared with coming from the countryside outside the city perimeter. Further, traffic regulations like one-way roads etc. may also influence the number of available alternative routes around an impact area. Therefore, the decision point location relative to the location of an accident or incident may be located at a completely different distance than the perimeter of the impact area as such. The main parameter deciding a location of a decision point is that there must be available side roads with acceptable traffic conditions between the location of a decision point and a traffic incident or traffic event. However, in view of the dynamic behaviour of the impact magnitude and impact area size the location of a decision point is also dynamically changed and correlated with the time dependent evolution of the impact area magnitude and impact area size.
There is also another time dependent problem related to updates of information in traffic servers. For example, authorities like the police, fire brigade, hospitals, road authorities etc. can report accidents. When a car accident happens someone is calling an emergency number and police, ambulance etc. is arriving at the location of an accident. When a police car for example is arriving, an experienced police officer can assess the degree of seriousness of the accident, i.e. impact factor magnitude. However, the time between an accident and the reporting and eventual update of a navigation map for example about the incident will take some time. Even during 10 minutes delay, several hundred cars may be jammed creating a queue that may block side roads as well. The consequence will start to grow both in impact magnitude and impact area size. One interesting aspect of the phenomena is that trapped people in a queue do not know or understand always why there is a queue. Indeed, it is very seldom a need of informing about why there is a traffic problem. The only valid information that is of interest is traffic problems head of you when continuing travelling in the current direction. This is relevant information. The next valid action of a system is then to tell you how to drive to avoid possible problems ahead of you.
Even when notifying a traffic server about an incident quickly, there is no incentive among police officers, first aid personal etc. to update the traffic server with progress information since they are probably busy with the incident itself, i.e. doing their work. Maybe update of status of the incident will happen when the situation or incident is over, or when they submit their report about the situation to their own organisation. During this time, the impact area may grow or other incidents in a same area may worsen the situation without reporting the other incidents.
Therefore, bad road conditions provoked by a local incident can grow in impact area size, and in the periphery of this impact area there will probably be new incidents due to a queue for example that no one at the scene knows originally was provoked by the local incident. Therefore, linking information and guidance around incidents in the periphery of an impact area to an evolution of the original local incident that provoked the problem is not necessary. A queue like this can continue to exist for a long time after the original incident that provoked the queue is over as known in the prior art. This should be reflected in the information and guidance provided to road users around incident points in the periphery of an impact area.
The server may have a system assessing road conditions based on accident and/or incidents. However, the quality of any advice or guidance being the result of the assessment is dependent on the current situation or impact of any accident or incident. Any road user needs advice and alternatives related to the point in time the road user actually asks for an advice. Therefore, it is a road user's geographical position and point in time of arrival to a geographical position that should activate updates of information and analysis, calculations of traffic flow algorithms etc. related to an area around the geographical position of the road user. Linking the information and guidance to a forecast of coming road conditions in the near future relative to the current position in time and location, and direction of travel, and/or due to the road user's selection of destination etc. is preferable.
Besides the time dependencies discussed above, also another factor can make decisions by for example a navigation terminal obsolete. This is changing road user behaviour. Even if a road user has entered a destination into a navigation terminal, the road user can decide at any time to deviate from the calculated route. He can suddenly decide to depart from the route to visit a friend, or he receives a phone call that makes it necessary to cancel the trip but does not delete the selected destination from the navigation tool. Further, road users do not have to enter a destination every time a car is used. If a road user is travelling to his workplace from home (or from the workplace to his home), he will probably not use a navigation tool at all. If an accident or incident blocks or slows down his travel to the workplace (or home) the road user will probably know many alternative routes himself, but the question that is remaining is if his choices are valid choices with respect to traffic flow conditions. The road user would still need information and guidance to qualify if a specific choice he knows or want to use is an open route to his workplace (or home), or that has an acceptable traffic flow density or not.
Therefore, a proper traffic information and guidance system rely on gathering static and nonstatic information about traffic conditions. The system must measure time dependent developments of accidents etc. with respect to impact on traffic flow and size of an impact area. The system must also be able to base guidance about road conditions to specific road users on a rather complex metric that is changing with time and location, and user behaviour of road users defining and qualifying what is an optimal route from a specific geographical location to another specific geographical location. Such guidance should be available even if a traffic information and guidance server system do not know an identity of a road user, and even when not knowing the intended destination of travel of a specific road user. When such a specific road user is in need of an advice or guidance on a specific location, the traffic and guidance server system must provide targeted and relevant information to a road user that in principle can be unknown to the system.
In prior art it is known how a computer server system may have models of maps of road systems, and a traffic server can monitor GPS positions received from GPS transceivers located in cars, or via mobile phones equipped with GPS transceivers and which are carried by road users. Then it is possible to track road user positions on modelled maps, and recording information about accidents or incidents, and the server may issue warnings to approaching road users approaching such locations. However, as discussed above, the warning may not be relevant to the road user since the road user had in mind to turn off the road that would be problematic for the travel anyhow. The new road followed by the road user may have an entirely different traffic problem that still could be a real hindrance for the continued travel. For example, a truck may have capsized and the truck and goods are blocking the road completely. Therefore, the problem is how to warn road users when one really do not know the expected behaviour of the road user. Therefore, broadcast of accidents or incidents to road users even inside a limited geographical area may not provide a solution to traffic flow problems in the area. It is important to bear in mind that when a broadcast warning is received it is most probable that most road users selects another route that is the obvious choice among the alternatives, i.e. is a main road around the problematic area etc. Then it is probable that traffic congestion can build up on the road that is the obvious choice to avoid the initial incident. Road users that do not cooperate will create problems for each other. Therefore, individual guidance from a server may also enable the server to distribute traffic load on several roads and thereby mitigate problems arising from a same advice to everyone. Further, it is rather obvious that broadcasting an advice or information makes it impossible to reach a Nash equilibrium, for example.
Further, in the example above the road user must interpret broadcasted warnings and make an assessment if a warning is relevant for the intended continued travel. In reality, this will be a task of every road user within an area. Road users must think about all the parameters discussed above when evaluating the impact of an incident or accident on selectable routes of an intended continued travel.
In prior art it is a growing trend in the auto industry to equip cars with wireless Internet facilities. In this manner there is a growing availability of a technical infrastructure that is standardized (and not proprietary), and which is common knowledge among most road users. Therefore, informing road users about traffic conditions, and even providing intelligent guidance from for example authorities over the Internet connected to wireless terminals can therefore mitigate problematic road conditions like queues etc. Tuning and operating traffic lights may speed up traffic flow in cities during rush hours. Information about respective road conditions like traffic accidents or incidents can then also help road users to select other routes, and in combination with central traffic light control such problems may not turn into hour-long queues during rush hours.
A standard Internet service is a WEB page that for example can provide the information and guidance referenced above. Segmenting such pages according to geographical areas, certain parts of a city etc. is common. When driving a car it is usually difficult for the driver to operate a wireless terminal searching for information while at the same time keeping track of other road users. Therefore, accessing such WEB pages are usually beneficial before a ride starts and the information of interest is usually of a nature that is more general. The information can include information for example about ongoing roadwork, expected weather conditions like fog conditions the next coming hours, snow conditions etc., or about major accidents, fires etc. that has been reported, but which may not be reported that it is all over.
Alternatively, or as a supplement to Internet based services, vehicle-to-vehicle networks wherein the object is to communicate to others for example if a driver is pushing the brakes of his car may be used. Submitting information about road conditions, in addition to a warning of braking the car etc., submitted over the vehicle-to-vehicle networks to cars behind the braking car is possible, and then this can trigger the cars behind to slow down immediately. A vehicle-to-vehicle network can have an interface node to standard Internet services, which makes it possible to access the network between cars from external servers via Internet protocols.
It is known in prior art to use push messages when operating a traffic information and guidance server system. A push message in this context is a message sent from a traffic server to an individual road user, or a group of road users without the need for any road user to request the message. In prior art it is known to utilize a technique denoted geofence to be able to achieve an automatic broad cast messaging system that is distributing messages to mobile users crossing a virtual defined geographical perimeter around a Point Of Interest (POI). However, since anyone that is crossing the geofence usually receives the same information there is no targeting of the information with respect to specific road users. The information will probably not provide any specific relevant guidance for a specific road user, but only be of general interest to the majority of road users crossing the geofence from any side of the geofence around the POI. Again, it may be a problem, as discussed above, that a same warning or information of an accident, or incident, or a queue or any traffic related problem etc. is triggering a collective choice of selecting a same alternative route. The alternative rout may be the obvious choice to follow around problematic areas.
The example of a geofence above enables a server to identity the approximate geographical position a road user is located on, and the server can for example track or follow the movements of the road user to a next POI. This recorded movement can then qualify targeted traffic information to this specific user. However, it may be a legal issue if a traffic server can follow movements of a road user without the road user's explicit consent to do so. Further, why should a server record all movements of all cars in a city? Besides being a probable legal issue the technical challenge of tracking positions of millions of cars can be a problem, at least a technical problem if the solution needs to be scalable, which may be a necessary condition for example during rush hours. Further, broadcasting of information is an incentive to collective behaviour of road users, which probably create new traffic problems.
US 2002/0065599 A1 disclose a traffic management system (TMSYS), which comprises a road network (RDN) on a physical layer (PL) and at least a packet switched control network (PSCN) on a traffic control layer (TCL). The vehicle traffic formed on the physical layer (PL) by a plurality of vehicles (C1-Cx) travelling along a plurality of road sections (RDS1-RDSm) of the road network is mapped into a packet traffic constituted by a plurality of packets (CP1-CPx) routed along a plurality of packet routing links. Packet control units (PCU1-PCUn) of the packet switched control network (PSCN) are adapted to control the packets (CP1-CPx) on a respective packet routing link (PRL1-PRLn) in the traffic control layer (TCL) to correspond to or simulate a respective vehicle (C1-Cx) on a corresponding road section on the physical layer (PL). The traffic management system (TMSYS) thus treats each vehicle as a packet and can monitor, control or simulate the traffic on this physical layer (PL) by the packet traffic in the traffic control layer (TCL).
US 2011/0246594 A1 disclose a commuter group service (CGS) which allow commuters to join commuter groups enabling them to socialize while commuting. Through the commuter groups, the users may share commuting routes, traffic updates, road conditions, and other information. Group members may arrange car pools, short term riding arrangements, and may contact each other. The CGS may collect information about respective group member positions, e.g. GPS coordinates, enabling the CGS to calculate traffic conditions and to select location specific information for group members. The system may include an on-line service accessible through a computer or wireless networking device. The user may log into the CGS, create or modify a user profile, and join groups of their choosing. Groups may be associated with specific events or with getting to/from work. Forming commuter groups for commuters that use private vehicles and/or public transportation is possible.
US 2003/0018428 A1 disclose a vehicle information system, which includes an in-vehicle system and a centralized server system. The in-vehicle system communicates with the server system using a wireless communication link, such as over a cellular telephone system. In one version of the system, an operator specifies a destination to an in-vehicle system, which validates the destination. The in-vehicle system transmits specification of the destination to a server system at the centralized server. The server system computes a route to the destination and transmits the computed route to the in-vehicle system. The in-vehicle system guides the operator along the route. If the in-vehicle system detects that the vehicle has deviated from the planned route, it reroute a new route to the destination using an in-vehicle map database.
US US 2008/0234921 A1 disclose a navigation device helping road users when there is a traffic congestion. The device receives real time data about slow traffic flow or low average traffic speed as an indication of a congestion. The device calculates an alternative rout by taking into account historical data about speed conditions on secondary roads weighted with the current average speed in the congestion area.
The prior art publication WO 2012122448 A1 by Lorenz Riegger et al, disclose an agricultural vehicle tracking server system that configures a moving geofence (16) about the location of a vehicle (10). A moving geofence (16) may intercept a point of interest, such as another moving geofence (16), and the server will issue an alert. The particular characteristics of the moving geofence (16) is generating the geofence in accordance with a predetermined scheme. Alerts may be weather alerts, or there can be detection of a situation where two respective geofences around two vehicles are overlapping thereby indicating a possible collision hazard. However, the teaching is about predefined actions like collision detection or weather warnings. There is no targeted information and guidance to a specific road user or road users in general. Any road user crossing a geofence around a same POI gets the same information or warning.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,306,556A by Yi-Chung Chao et al, disclose a system based on real time data. A method of operating an intelligent real-time distributed traffic sampling and navigation system includes: receiving navigation information from a client (a navigation terminal), and analysing the navigation information thereby providing traffic information, and generating a travel route based on the analysis of the navigation information; and sending the travel route to a display in communication with the client.
The international patent application PCT/EP2014/051406 with the title "A traffic surveillance and guidance system" by the same inventor as the present invention, disclose a traffic information and guidance system providing a communication channel between road users driving their respective cars. Each driver has a field of view and the basic concept is that it is possible to combine the field of views of a plurality of road users, or just between two drivers driving for example on a same road. FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a combined field or union of fields of view between a road user in car A with a field of view 1, field of view 2 of a road user in car B and a field of view 3 of a road user in car C. In this manner road users can share information that one road user can view visually while other road users may have problems with visual contact of the situation, for example because of a hilltop, a house, trees etc. Some of the technical features of the invention enabling this concept are that each road user registers himself as a member and user of a server system providing for example traffic information services. When registering, a road user selects a specific geometrical shape and size representing a model of his intended field of view, for example a circle of 500 meters diameter (or any other shape and/or dimension). The traffic server tracks geographical positions using the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of cars or of mobile terminals associated with the registered road users. One important aspect of this method is the relative movement among the road users, which are establishing the union and the communication, as well as closing the communication among them when they move apart. Then the road users in a union are all relevant for each other enabling them to communicate information from the same geographical area. This invention helps and promotes road users to cooperate when for example one member of a union spots an incident and sends a message about the incident within the union. Then it is possible to achieve Nash equilibrium locally for the members of the union. In addition, the traffic server may intervene and provide specific advices to the members of the union. If not dissolving a union when road users travel away from each other, achieving Nash equilibrium can never be possible among these road users since the messages starts to be invalid information for the road users still traveling within the relevant geographical area when they receive information from members moving further and further away. This scenario is common among commuter group systems, which often allows people to stay in contact regardless of relative position between commuter members.
Even though the teaching of PCT/EP2014/051406 do provide a significant contribution to the art with the concept of unions, the traffic information and guidance system according to the present invention enables information and guidance services to road users within unions that originate from traffic conditions outside the respective unions. In a sense, the traffic server may intervene and provide qualified advice and information to a union as an added information or as an alternative to observations of members of the union of a specific traffic condition in the union. For example, when avoiding development of severe traffic conditions it may be necessary to update information from a larger geographical area outside the area covered by a union. The union is a superb tool when warning and informing other road users instantly within a limited neighbourhood. However, effects of time dependent evolution of incidents like impact factor magnitude and impact area size etc. is outside the scope of a union since a union probably moves away from a fixed geographical position of an incident, or individual and relative movements of road users away from each other dissolves the union. The present invention is about individual road users and/or unions approaching geographical areas that might have traffic problems causing traffic flow problems for the road users before they come in contact (or union) with closely located road users having information about the specific problem.
On the other hand, a road user listening or using information from a traffic information server usually only need information related to a neighbourhood of his current position at a specific point in time of arrival to the neighbourhood. However, the intended rout that a road user will follow leaving his current position may be unknown to the traffic server (or other members of a union). A traffic server can independently acquire information and traffic measurements online all the time. However, as long as a road user can have independent and random behaviour in the traffic the traffic server may have problems providing specific information and advice that will be relevant for the specific road user. In a sense, the traffic server and a road user are operating individually and without any form of cooperation in the traffic.
According to an aspect of the present invention, solving this and other problems is possible through a system and method thereof, informing and guiding road users approaching junctions. The information can be about traffic flow conditions on roads leading in and out of the junctions. Advices can be how to drive to avoid traffic problems in forward located areas having roads in common with roads leading out of the junctions. Thereby, on the time of arrival in front of the junction, the road user is informed. If a road or street the road user intended to follow when passing the junction have problematic traffic flow conditions, the road user can select another road out of the junction having less traffic problems. Thereby, the junction serves as a decision point for an approaching road user.
Therefore, an improved road traffic information and guidance system would be advantageous, and in particular, a more targeted and/or relevant information and guidance of road users would be advantageous.


A surgical device for cleaning and removing obstructing material from within a vascular conduit or other bodily passageway. The device comprises a balloon catheter having an independently operable outer woven sleeve having a plurality of mesh openings. The woven sleeve surrounds the radially expandable and contractible balloon. In one embodiment, the outer woven sleeve is configured into a predetermined shape through manipulation of the catheter and used to maintain the inflated balloon within that predetermined configuration. In another embodiment, the woven sleeve is radially expanded by the inflated balloon such that the woven mesh is driven into the vascular conduit. The woven sleeve may be used to abrade the surface of the vascular conduit and increase the flow passage or alternatively as traction for various other surgical procedures within the vascular conduit.

Catheters having inflatable balloons affixed to their leading edge are commonly used in a variety of surgical applications. One application for such a "balloon catheter," is for dilating blood vessels which have been partially or entirely blocked by deposits or other obstructions. The balloon catheter is introduced into the affected blood vessel and the deflated balloon is maneuvered into a blocked or otherwise obstructed flow path within the vessel. By inflating the balloon, the deposits or obstructions are compressed against the inner wall of the vessel, thereby enlarging the flow path. Other applications include the removal and/or compression of adherent materials such as atherosclerotic plaque, thrombosis, stenosis, occlusions, clots, stones, and other potentially obstructive material from within vascular conduits and other body passageways.
Prior devices used in such applications include catheters having a catheter shaft and an inflatable balloon located near the leading or distal end of the catheter. The balloon of such a catheter usually consists of an inflatable sleeve or bulb fitted on the outside of the tubular catheter shaft. The balloon is inflated by the infusion of a fluid into the balloon chamber from within the shaft. It is important that the balloon's inflation be controlled, such that it is not overinflated, resulting in an overexpanded balloon which can rupture or otherwise damage the affected vascular conduit or other body conduit.
In an effort to reduce the dangers of over expansion and thus, potential damage to the conduit, modern catheters are commonly configured with reinforced balloons that can only expand to a predetermined maximum diameter, regardless of the interior pressure applied. While effective at limiting the radial expansion of the associated balloon, these catheters are only effective when used within a vascular or other conduit of a specified size. Conduits having different or changing diameters may require the use of a number of such catheters, each having a specified maximum balloon diameter. In addition, many applications could benefit from a balloon having a specific configuration or shape for use within the conduit. These specific shapes or configurations could advantageously be used to compress or remove occluding material, for infusing treatment fluids as well as for therapeutic effects. Thus, there is a need for a balloon catheter which can restrain the maximum radial expansion of the inflated balloon and can also configure the inflated balloon to a specified shape or configuration. There is also a need for such a balloon catheter which has the ability to limit the radial expansion of the inflated balloon to a number of different maximum radial diameters.
When removing occluding material from within a vascular conduit, such as a blood vessel, it is important that the surface of the balloon catheter be relatively smooth in order to prevent damage to the inner lining. Prior art balloon catheters are generally provided with a smooth outer surface for this purpose. However, it is often desirable to have an abrasive outer surface for contacting the inner walls of the vascular conduit. The abrasive outer surface allows for improved removal of the occluding material as well as for traction. In addition, there is also a need for a balloon catheter having a more abrasive outer surface for use in other applications such as the removal of thrombus or other obstructions from within an artificial graft. These applications often require more intense scrubbing. Thus, there is a need for a balloon catheter which has an abrasive outer surface, yet which is not damaging to the inner lining of the vascular conduit or other conduit. There is also a need for such an abrasive outer surface that retains a consistent abrasiveness regardless of the balloon's inflation or expansion. There is also a need for a balloon catheter which includes an abrasive outer surface suitable for removing thrombus or other occluding material from within an artificial graft.


A method and system of check presentation. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are methods comprising accepting a first paper check and a second paper check in exchange for a good or service (the second paper check postdated), converting the first paper check and the second paper check into a first electronic request and a second electronic request respectively, presenting the first electronic request for payment through a funds transfer network, electronically storing the second electronic request, and then presenting the second electronic request for payment through the funds transfer network on the postdated date.

Many merchants implement in-house financing (e.g., 90 days same as cash) by taking a series of checks from the customer, depositing the first check on the day of purchase, and holding the remaining checks until the agreed upon dates for further payments. When each agreed upon date arrives, the merchant deposits each check. There are several shortcomings to such a system. One such shortcoming is that if the checks are all dated the day of the original purchase, the checks deposited near the end of the term (e.g., the third month's check) may be "stale" and therefore refused by a bank. Another shortcoming is that it is a labor intensive process for the merchant to safeguard, identify and deposit the checks on the particular agreed-upon days.


A tamper detection system for promptly warns a utility that it has lost control of a load which is part of a load management system, and may be giving price incentives to a customer without receiving the corresponding benefit arising from the intended control of the load. A monitor circuit automatically determines whether the load management device is connected to the load by detecting whether a current is passing via the load control device to the load, and generates a warning signal when no current is detected for a first predetermined period of time. The load current is detected either by inductively coupling a conductor to the load with a sensing conductor, or by sensing current induced in the load control relay as the load current passes through the relay contacts. The tamper detection feature operates without any activity of the load management device, and detects disconnection of the load even when the load management device itself is powered up and working properly.

Electrical load management systems for allowing an electrical utility to control the load on an electrical distribution system are known in the art. These systems divert energy requirements to minimize electrical black-outs or "brown-outs". For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,800 to Kelly, Jr. et al., entitled "Electrical Load Management System", assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, describes an electrical load management system wherein a utility command center monitors the use of electrical power and, when peak demand periods occur, transmits coded information by radio from the command center to remote receivers mounted proximate the electrical loads. In this patent, the transmitted signal includes address and command information that is decoded at the receivers. Receivers addressed by the command center pass command information over the distribution lines to the electrical loads, and thereby control the operation of the customers' power consuming devices.
Other load management systems utilize separate radio receivers at each customer's location, rather than providing a receiver at the distribution transformer as in the aforementioned patent. Examples of this type system include the types DCU-1120, -1170, -1180, -1190, and -S2000A utility radio switches, otherwise described as digital control units or load control switches, manufactured by Scientific Atlanta, Inc., Atlanta, Ga., and the type REMS-100 radio switch manufactured by General Electric, King of Prussia, Pa. These utility radio switches incorporate an FM receiver that can receive a transmitted signal up to about 25 miles from a transmitter site located at a command center. The transmitter issues commands to temporarily remove power from a selected load. This self-contained receiver is typically mounted on or immediately adjacent to the electrical loads under control, and receives its power from the line that feeds the controlled loads. Switches, jumpers, or other means contained within the receiver configure the receiver to respond only to a particular address or set of addresses, so that different geographical areas, types of appliances, or numbers of consumers may be separately controlled.
Such a load management system reduces peak power demand and therefore the utility need not generate or import as much additional power. In order to induce more customers to participate in their load management programs, utilities typically offer price incentives to participants.
However, if the load management device has been bypassed through tampering or by a service technician working on a controlled appliance, the utility cannot promptly discover the problem. Air conditioning technicians in particular may not understand the function of the load management device. They often disconnect the air conditioner's thermostatic control circuit from the contacts of the device as a troubleshooting procedure. After the trouble with the air conditioner has been solved, the technician may not reconnect it to the load management device, leaving the utility with no control over the appliance. The utility will continue to discount the participant's bill without the benefit of disconnecting the appliance during peak power consumption.
As a result of this problem, utilities have sought a tamper detection system for several years. One early attempt provided a circuit for monitoring the coil of the load switch relay for continuity. While detecting failure of the relay, that method would not determine whether the contact circuit was still connected to the load. Another method was to measure the voltage induced in the load switch relay coil across the contacts when the load was reconnected. It was common for the load, such as a hot water heater, to be drawing current upon reconnect when the appliance had been cut off for a period of time by the load management device. Therefore, voltage would be induced in the coil by the load current passing through the contacts of the load management device. A microprocessor in the system would determine whether the ratio of reconnects with current to those without current was acceptable. An unacceptable ratio would be taken to evidence of tampering. Because this method depended on load management activity to have a monitored event, it was effective only when the utility used the load management system often. Utilities therefore have had a need for a tamper detection system that operates without any activity of the load management device.
Thus, there has been a need for a low cost tamper detection system that is relatively simple and cost effective to implement, operates without any activity of the load management device, warns the utility promptly when a load has been disconnected from the load management device, and detects disconnection even when the management device itself is powered up and working properly.

Tamper detection system for load management device


A carrying apparatus for rescuing persons, for example from a space with a small access opening. The carrying apparatus accommodates a person in an elongated transport position, a middle part that is substantially curved in cross section and is open at the top, which accommodates at least the head and the trunk of a person to be transported in a supine position.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a carrying apparatus for rescuing persons, in particular from a space with a small access opening, the carrying apparatus accommodating the persons in an elongated transport position.
2. Discussion of Background Information
DE 20 2005 003 316.2 has already disclosed an apparatus for rescuing persons from spaces with small access openings. Use is made of a transport device which accommodates the person to be rescued, which is designed to fix the person accommodated in an elongated transport position and of which the external contour is matched to the access opening.
From time to time it is necessary to enter closed spaces or containers such as drying cylinders or other containers such as boilers in a machine for producing a fibrous web, in particular a paper or board web, for installation, conversion, repair or maintenance purposes, for which purpose one or more persons have to enter the space or the container through a relatively small access opening, for example an oval access opening.
The height and width dimensions of such an elliptical opening are between 280 and 300 mm, on the one hand, and between 380 and 400 mm, on the other hand. For the case in which a person is injured or becomes unconscious during the work, it is necessary to rescue this person from the container, a further difficulty consisting in the fact that there are often restricted space conditions outside the container as well.
The known apparatus is configured as a closed or partly closed tube, which permits a person who, for example, is injured or unconscious to be fixed in an elongated, in particular lying, transport position, with arms either lying at the sides or extended upward and then to push the transport device with the person located in it through the access opening.


Pharmaceutical compositions are disclosed that are of use for the treatment of uveitis. These compositions include a suppressive oligonucleotide. These compositions including an immunosuppressive oligonucleotide can be used for the treatment of uveitis, including anterior, posterior, and diffuse uveitis.

Intraocular inflammatory diseases grouped under the term "uveitis" are a major cause of visual loss in industrialized nations. "Uveitis" refers to an intraocular inflammation of the uveal tract, namely, the iris, choroids, and ciliary body. Uveitis is responsible for about 10% of legal blindness in the United States (National Institutes of Health, Interim Report of the Advisory Eye Council Support for Visual Research, U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare, Washington, D.C., 1976, pp. 20-22). Complications associated with uveitis include posterior synechia, cataract, glaucoma and retinal edema (Smith et al., Immunol. Cell Biol. 76:497-512, 1998).
Treatment of uveitis often focuses on the control the inflammatory symptoms. In such cases, corticosteroids are often used to suppress inflammation in the eye. Anterior uveitis often responds to local steroid treatment with eye drops. However, drops do not usually provide therapeutic levels of steroids in the posterior part of the eye for the treatment of posterior uveitis or panuveitis. Periocular injections are then indicated. These injections can be given sub-conjunctivally or beneath Tenon's capsule.
Systemic treatments with corticosteroids are often used when local injections fail. However, many of the most severe cases of uveitis do not respond to high dose systemic corticosteroid therapy. In addition, the side effects of such systemic therapies can include hypertension, hyperglycemia, peptic ulceration, Cushingoid features, osteoporosis, growth limitation, myopathy, psychosis and increased susceptibility to infection can be devastating. Finally, many of the local and systemic steroid therapies also have potentially sight-threatening side effects such as glaucoma, cataract and susceptibility to eye infection. Newer immunosuppressive agents are being investigated for use in uveitis treatment, such as Tacrolimus, Sirolimus and mycophelonate mofetil. However, these drugs also have serious side effects (Anglade and Whitcup, Drugs 49:213-223, 1995). Therefore, there exists a need for new methods to treat inflammatory disease of the eye.

Methods and compositions for the treatment of uveitis

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services


To provide a negative photosensitive resin composition which is excellent in storage stability of silanol groups and which is applicable to preparation of partition walls which can maintain excellent ink repellency even after ink affinity-imparting treatment, and partition walls for an optical device using such a composition.

A resist composition has attracted attention as a material to form a permanent film for e.g. partition walls between pixels of a color filter, partition walls between pixels of an organic EL (electro-luminescence) display device, partition walls between devices of an organic EL lighting, partition walls partitioning TFTs (thin film transistors) of an organic TFT array, partition walls for ITO electrodes of a liquid crystal display device, and partition walls of a circuit wiring substrate.
Further, a low cost process utilizing ink jet recording technology of injecting a liquid by an ink jet after formation of the above partition walls, has been proposed.
For example, in the production of a color filter, an ink jet method has been proposed to jet and apply R (red), G (green) and B (blue) inks within fine pixels. Here, formation of a pixel pattern is carried out by photolithography using a resist composition, and a photosensitive cured product of the resist composition is utilized as partition walls between pixels.
Further, in the production of an organic EL display device, an ink jet method has been proposed wherein a solution of a hole transport material or a luminescent material is jetted and applied to form hole transport layers or luminescent layers within fine pixels. Here, formation of a pixel pattern is carried out by photolithography using a resist composition, and a coating film cured product of the resist composition is utilized as partition walls between pixels.
Further, in the production of an organic TFT array, an ink jet method has been proposed wherein a solution of an organic semiconductor is jetted and applied. Formation of partition walls partitioning TFTs is carried out by photolithography using a resist composition, and a coating film cured product of the resist composition is utilized as the partition walls.
Further, in the production of a liquid crystal display device, an ink jet method has been proposed wherein an ITO (tin doped indium oxide) solution or dispersion is jetted and applied to form ITO electrodes, and formation of an ITO electrode pattern is carried out by photolithography using a resist composition, and a coating film cured product of the resist composition is utilized as partition walls.
Further, in the production of a circuit wiring substrate, an ink jet method has been proposed wherein a metal dispersion is jetted and applied to form circuit wirings. Here, formation of a circuit wiring pattern is carried out by photolithography using a resist composition, and a coating film cured product of the resist composition is utilized as partition walls.
In the ink jet method, it is necessary to prevent e.g. color mixing of inks between adjacent pixels, or to prevent the material jetted by an ink jet from attaching to or solidifying at portions other than the predetermined regions. Accordingly, the partition walls are required to have repellency against water or an organic solvent constituting the ink jet coating solution, i.e. a so-called ink repellency.
Accordingly, a resist composition to form the partition walls having an ink repellency has been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a photosensitive resin composition comprising a silicon-containing resin having a polyfluoroalkyl group, a polydimethylsiloxane group and an ethylenic double bond.
When partition walls are formed by a coating film cured product of a resist composition, the resist composition at a portion to be dots (regions within which an ink is to be injected, surrounded by the partition walls) is removed in a development step. However, in a case where a resist composition to impart ink repellency to the partition walls is used, if its removal is insufficient, the residue of the composition will adversely affect the ink injection, and such is one cause of the edge leakage. Further, the partition walls are made of a coating film cured product of the resist composition, and molecules which did not undergo curing reaction remain in the partition walls, and such molecules migrate from the partition walls to the dots and contaminate the dots in the subsequent post-baking step, and such contamination is also considered to be one cause of the edge leakage.
In order to prevent the edge leakage, for the purpose of removing impurities remaining in the dots after formation of the partition walls, for example, it is considered to carry out an ink affinity-imparting treatment such as cleaning with an alkali aqueous solution, UV cleaning, UV ozone cleaning, excimer cleaning, corona discharge treatment or oxygen plasma treatment. However, if an ink affinity-imparting treatment is carried out by such a method, the ink repellency of the partition walls is also decreased. As a method of carrying out an ink affinity-imparting treatment without decreasing the ink repellency of the partition walls e.g. by UV cleaning, Patent Document 2 proposes a method of protecting the partition walls with a resin. Further, Patent Document 3 proposes use of a siloxane compound having a specific structure as a UV ozone-resistant resin.
Therefore, a negative photosensitive resin composition for formation of partition walls of an optical device, having ink repellency capable of withstanding an ink affinity-imparting treatment such as UV ozone cleaning and at the same time capable of forming dots excellent in the ink wettability, has been desired. As an attempt to accomplish these objects, e.g. Patent Document 4 discloses a technique relating to a negative photosensitive resin composition using, as an ink repellent, a fluorine-containing hydrolyzed condensate obtainable by combining three types of hydrolyzable silane compounds each having a specific structure.

Negative photosensitive resin composition, partition walls for optical device and production process thereof, process for producing optical device having the partition walls, and ink repellent solution

Abstract: A negative photosensitive resin composition comprising an ink repellent (A) made of a fluorosiloxane compound having a hydroxy group bonded to a silicon atom and containing fluorine atoms in a proportion of from 10 to 55 mass % based on the total amount of the compound, a photosensitive resin (B) having an acidic group and an ethylenic double bond in one molecule, a photopolymerization initiator (C) and a solvent (D), wherein the proportion of the ink repellent (A) is from 0.01 to 10 mass % based on the total solid content of the composition, and the proportion of the hydroxy groups bonded to a silicon atom derived from the ink repellent (A) is from 0.000001 to 1.0 mmol/g based on the total amount of the composition.


A cleaning disc for a media reading device having a laser lens. The cleaning disc includes a first surface configured to face the laser lens, a brush extending outwardly from the first surface, and a recess in the first surface configured to receive at least a portion of the brush when the brush contacts the laser lens during a cleaning operation. Each brush is defined by a strand of material that includes opposite ends. A first end of the material extends through a first aperture to define a first brush and a second end extends through a second, spaced apart aperture to define a second brush. A middle portion of the strand of material extends along a second surface of the cleaning disc between the first and second apertures, and is covered by a cover.

Several types of media players exist in today's market place for reading and/or writing to various types of media discs. For example, reading and writing devices are known for reading from and writing to compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and other disc-based media formats. Each of these devices includes a laser lens for reading or writing electronic data on the media discs. Such laser lenses get dirty over time and require cleaning. Lens cleaning discs are insertable into the media player to clean the laser lens and may include one or more brushes that are configured to contact the laser lens as the disc rotates in the player. Cleaning disc brushes generally extend away from a surface of the disc that faces the laser lens and contact the laser lens when the disc is rotated by the device. The brushes thereby perform a wiping operation on the lens that cleans debris from the lens. In many instances, the brushes of the cleaning disc become pinched or jammed between the surface of the disc and the laser lens. This problem is notably prevalent in situations where the clearance between the disc and the laser lens is particularly small, such as in a high definition video disc player. Pinching and jamming of the brushes may scratch or otherwise damage the lens or the cleaning disc, or may prevent the disc from rotating, thereby reducing or altogether eliminating the ability of the cleaning disc to effectively clean the lens.


Method for controlling a diesel engine with a common-rail injection system and a particulate filter, comprising the steps of performing at least one main injection (PRE, MAIN, AFTER) of fuel into a cylinder of the engine, the fuel being intended to take part in combustion inside the cylinder, and performing a post-injection (POST) in order to inject a predefined total quantity of fuel (QPOST) inside the cylinder, the post-injection being separated from the main injection (PRE, MAIN, AFTER) by means of a time separation interval such that the fuel injected during post-injection does not take part in combustion. The method also comprises the step of dividing the post-injection (POST) into a plurality of separate post-injections (POST1, POST2, POST3).

1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a diesel engine with a common-rail injection system during regeneration of the particulate filter.
2. Description of the Related Art.
As is known, in order to reduce atmospheric pollution, the regulations in most countries are imposing increasingly stringent limits on the composition of the exhaust gases produced by internal combustion engines.
In particular, with regard to diesel engines, the main problems consist in the presence, within the exhaust gases, of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate, while carbon oxides (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) do not pose a particular problem.
Many methods have been proposed hitherto in order to reduce to minimum values the quantity of particulate present within the exhaust gases introduced into the atmosphere. Of these, however, without doubt the arrangement, along the gas exhaust pipe, of a particulate filter (DPF—Diesel-Particulate Filter), also known as "soot catcher" or "soot trap", has been recognised for many years in the motor car industry as the definitive solution to the problem of particulate emissions from diesel engines.
In more detail, a particulate filter generally consists of parallel channels with porous walls which are alternately obstructed. The obstructions force the exhaust gases to pass through the side walls of the channels such that the non-combusted particles forming the particulate are firstly retained inside the porosity of the said side walls and then, when the latter are completely filled, accumulate on the internal surfaces of the channel walls, forming a porous layer.
With the increase in the accumulation of particulate on the internal surfaces of the channel walls, the reduction in pressure on the particulate filter and therefore the backpressure produced by the said particulate filter also increase.
The particulate therefore cannot be accumulated indefinitely since large accumulations cause:                a deterioration in performance, drivability and consumption of the engine, until, in the most extreme case, stalling of the engine occurs; and        destruction of the said particulate filter in the case of self-ignition and uncontrolled combustion of the particulate; in fact, the presence of large quantities of particulate, in particular driving conditions, may trigger "critical" regeneration phenomena consisting in the sudden and uncontrolled combustion of particulate: consequently, the high temperatures generated inside the ceramic lattice of the particulate filter may result in damage to the filter itself.
It is therefore necessary to remove periodically the particulate which has accumulated, performing so-called "regeneration" of the particulate filter. In particular, in the motor car industry, "regeneration" of the particulate filter is understood as meaning combustion of the accumulated particulate (composed mainly of carbon, C) which, in contact with the oxygen present in the exhaust gases, is converted into carbon monoxide, CO and carbon dioxide, CO2.
However, this reaction occurs naturally (i.e. without the use of additives) only at temperatures higher than about 600° C. and these temperature levels are much higher than those which are measured at the inlet of the particulate filter during normal operating conditions of the engine.
It is therefore necessary, in certain conditions, i.e. when given levels of accumulated particulate are detected within the particulate filter, to raise artificially the temperature of the exhaust gases at the inlet of the said particulate filter so as to trigger automatically combustion of the particulate.
The regeneration of a particulate filter forms the main problem associated with the use of this type of filter in the motor car industry.
Numerous methods have been proposed and/or used hitherto in order to raise artificially the temperature of the exhaust gases at the inlet of the particulate filter and trigger combustion of the particulate.
In particular, the methods of automatically triggering combustion of the particulate may be roughly divided into two main categories, depending on the type of approach used: the first category involves automatic triggering methods which are based on the use of an additive in the diesel fuel which, acting as a catalyst, allows a reduction in the temperature at which regeneration starts by about 100–150° C., while the second category involves those methods of automatically triggering combustion of the particulate which are based on control of combustion of the engine.
In particular, the methods of automatically triggering combustion of the particulate based on the use of an additive require:                an exhaust system comprising a catalyst and a particulate filter which are incorporated inside a single housing (canister);        a particulate filter with a very large volume, typically equivalent to about twice the cubic capacity of the engine;        a gas fuel additive (based on cerium) which allows a reduction in the temperature for automatic triggering of regeneration by about 100–150° C.;        a very complex system for adding and automatically metering the additive on-board the vehicle; and        engine control methods for increasing the temperature at the inlet of the particulate filter, since the necessary temperature levels cannot in any case be reached in conditions of normal use of the engine; in fact, this type of system functions correctly only in the case of operation of the engine under medium loads, while in the case of prolonged operation under low loads (for example when driving in towns) and/or in the presence of low external temperatures (in winter), the temperature of the exhaust gases in many cases does not manage to reach the self-triggering temperature.
The methods of automatically triggering combustion of the particulate based on the use of an additive, although they allow automatic triggering of regeneration of the particulate filter in the region of 450–500° C. and the particulate filter produces a low backpressure, have the following major limitations which prevent adequate and complete exploitation of all their positive aspects:                complexity, in particular of the system for adding and automatically metering the additive;        need for installation of a large-volume particulate filter since the additive present in the diesel fuel leaves a deposit of ash inside the particulate filter which gradually increases;        need to "clean" in any case the particulate filter of the ash about every 80,000 km, despite the large volume of the particulate filter; cerium, in fact, produces a large quantity of ash which accumulates inside the filter together with the particulate and cannot be eliminated by means of regeneration; this therefore results in a gradual increase in the backpressure of the filter on the engine with the increase in distance travelled by the vehicle and the consequent need to perform periodically disassembly and cleaning of the filter in order to eliminate the ash which has accumulated; and        high cost, both in the case of the system for adding and automatically metering the additive and in the case of the large-volume particulate filter.
Owing to the numerous disadvantages listed above, for some time now nearly all motor car manufacturers have preferred the methods of automatically triggering combustion of the particulate not based on the use of an additive to those based on the use of an additive.
One of the solutions proposed and used in the past in order to raise artificially the temperature of the exhaust gases in the particulate filter without the use of an additive envisaged equipping the said particulate filters with heating elements which were periodically activated in order to raise the temperature of the particulate filter to that for automatic triggering of combustion of the trapped particulate.
More recently, instead, solutions have been proposed where the increase in the temperature of the exhaust gases at the inlet of the particulate filter is obtained by means of methods involving control of the engine combustion.
In particular, the methods commonly used in order to raise the temperature at the particulate filter inlet are:                regulating the main injection in order to obtain retarded combustion;        performing a post-injection following the main injection; or        modulating the intake air so as to reduce it (for example reducing the supercharging or throttling the intake).
In detail, the method based on delay of the main injection has drawbacks due to the fact that the main injection may not be retarded beyond a certain limit, otherwise it would cause an unstable combustion which would result in misfiring, with the consequent production of white/blue smoke and problems associated with driving performance, in particular lack of response. For these reasons, with this method it is not possible to obtain, at low speeds and with low engine loads, high temperatures at the particulate filter inlet.
International patent application PCT/IT95/00124 filed on Jul. 21, 1995 by the Applicant and published on Feb. 8, 1996 under number WO-A-96 03571 instead proposes a method in which the increase in the temperature of the exhaust gases at the particulate filter inlet is obtained by performing, in addition to the main injection, a post-injection during the expansion step.
In particular, the timing of post-injection with respect to the main injection and the quantity of injected fuel are determined so that combustion of the fuel during the expansion phase is such as to produce an increase in the temperature of the exhaust gases sufficient to automatically trigger regeneration of the particulate filter.
International patent application PCT/IT95/00123 filed on Jul. 21, 1995 by the Applicant and published on Feb. 8, 1996 under number WO-A-96 03572 also proposes a method where the increase in the temperature of the exhaust gases at the particulate filter inlet is obtained by performing, in addition to the main injection, a post-injection during the exhaust phase.
In particular, since generally the particulate filter is incorporated inside a single housing (canister) together with a DeNOx catalyst arranged upstream of the particulate filter, a post-injection performed mainly during the engine exhaust phase has the effect that the injected fuel does not contribute, albeit to a small degree, to combustion and therefore reaches the catalyst directly in non-combusted form.
The non-combusted hydrocarbons thus introduced into the catalyzer trigger an exothermic oxidation reaction which produces raising of the temperature of the exhaust gases at the catalyzer outlet and consequently an increase in the temperature of the exhaust gases entering the particulate filter.
Compared to the methods of automatically triggering combustion of the particulate based on the use of an additive, the methods of automatically triggering combustion of the particulate based on control of combustion of fuel require:                a particulate filter having a volume substantially equal to the cubic capacity of the engine, i.e. half that required by the methods of automatically triggering combustion of the particulate based on the use of an additive:        an exhaust system which may alternately:        have a configuration similar to that required by the methods of automatically triggering combustion of the particulate based on the use of an additive, namely comprising a catalyst and a particular filter which are incorporated inside a single housing (canister); or        comprise a single filter with deposited thereon both the oxidizing elements of the catalyst and metals (Ce+Pt) which reduce the self-ignition temperature (catalysed soot filter);        no additive in the diesel fuel;        no system for adding and automatically metering the additive on-board the vehicle; and        engine control methods for increasing the temperature at the particulate filter inlet.
In particular, the difference between use of an exhaust system comprising a catalyst and a particulate filter which are incorporated inside a single housing (canister) and the use of an exhaust system comprising a single filter with deposited thereon both the oxidizing elements of the catalyst and metals which reduce the self-ignition temperature consists in the fact that in the first type of exhaust system self-triggering of regeneration occurs at about 600° C. and the particulate filter has a low backpressure, while in the second type of exhaust system self-triggering of regeneration occurs at about 450° C., but the particulate filter has a high backpressure and there exists both the risk of a reduced regeneration efficiency, owing to contact between the cesium and the particulate, and the risk of drift in the regeneration efficiency, namely an increase in the regeneration triggering temperature.
The appearance of second generation common-rail injection systems has resulted in notable progress in the sector of particulate filter regeneration.
For a more detailed description of the subject of common-rail injection systems, reference may be made, for example, to European patent application 00104651.5 filed on Mar. 3, 2000 by the Applicant and published on Sep. 13, 2000 under number EP-A-1,035,314, the contents of which are regarded as being fully incorporated here.
As is known, in fact, this type of injection system allows the execution, during each engine cycle and inside each engine cylinder, of one or more of the following injections, as shown in FIG. 1, which details moreover the timing and the engine angles at which injection is performed:                a main injection MAIN performed in the vicinity of the combustion TDC;        a pre-injection PRE prior to the main injection MAIN and performed sufficiently close to the main injection MAIN to achieve continuity of combustion with the main injection MAIN;        a post-injection AFTER following the main injection MAIN and also performed sufficiently close to the main injection MAIN to achieve continuity of combustion with the main injection MAIN;        a pre-injection PILOT prior to the pre-injection PRE, which is carried during the compression step and is well in advance of the combustion TDC so much so that it does not participate in combustion of the fuel injected during the pre-injection PRE; and        a post-injection POST following the post-injection AFTER and performed with a notable delay relative to the combustion TDC so as not to participate in combustion of the fuel injected during the post-injection AFTER.
Each of the injections listed above produces a specific effect on operation of the engine which allows a well-defined object to be achieved.
In particular:                the injection PILOT causes an increase in the pressure inside the cylinder at the end of the compression phase and this increase consequently produces a reduction in the engine start-up time, a reduction in the noise and smokiness of the engine during the transient warm-up phase of the engine and an increase in the torque output by the engine at low speeds;        the injection PRE causes a reduction in the ignition delay, namely the time which lapses between injection of the fuel inside the main cylinder MAIN and the actual start of combustion inside the cylinder and this reduction in the ignition delay consequently causes a reduction in the combustion noise produced by the engine;        the injection AFTER causes post-oxidation of the exhaust gases inside the cylinder and this post-oxidation causes consequently a reduction in the quantity of particulate generated during combustion; and        the injection POST causes injection of a quantity of fuel during the exhaust phase which, since actual combustion has already terminated, is not burnt and reaches the exhaust unaltered, thus determining an increase in the hydrocarbons HC which are present in the exhaust and which, in turn, activate the DeNOx catalyst, causing an increase in the efficiency thereof. The exothermic oxidation reaction which occurs inside the DeNOx catalyzer also causes raising of the temperature of the exhaust gases at the inlet of the particulate filter which, as is known, is situated downstream of the DeNOx catalyzer, allowing regeneration of the particulate filter.
It is also possible to divide the injection MAIN into two separate injections so as to produce a reduction in the temperature peaks produced by combustion and, consequently, a reduction in the quantity of nitrogen oxides NOx produced during combustion.
For a more detailed description of subject of multiple injections, reference may be made, for example, to the abovementioned European patent application 00104651.5 filed on Mar. 3, 2000 by the Applicant and published on Sep. 13, 2000 under number EP-A-1,035,314.
Owing to the extreme flexibility of the second generation common-rail injection systems, in European patent application 02017387.8 filed on Aug. 2, 2002 by the Applicant and published on Feb. 5, 2003 under number EP-A-1,281,852, the contents of which are considered fully incorporated herein, it was proposed achieving raising of the temperature of the exhaust gases necessary for regeneration of the particulate filter by simply adjusting timing of one or more of the injections with respect to the timing which they assume when regeneration of the particulate filter is instead not performed.
In particular, a detailed study carried out by the Applicant has led to the definition, for each operating point of the engine, of particular combinations and timings of the multiple injections described above which allow self-triggering of regeneration of the particulate filter.
In addition to this, the study carried out by the Applicant was able to verify how the effect of these particular timings and combinations of the multiple injections on regeneration of the particulate filter may be further improved by adjusting other parameters of the engine and/or the injection system, such as the flowrate of the intake air, the injection pressure and the quantity of exhaust gases which are recirculated.
In particular, broadly speaking the methods for regeneration of the particulate filter highlighted by the Applicant envisage the following actions for raising the temperature of the exhaust gases at the inlet of the particulate filter:                performing three or four of the injections PILOT, PRE, MAIN and AFTER with a suitable delay relative to the timings of the injections performed in conditions where there is no regeneration of the particulate filter, said injections taking part in the combustion process and allowing a delayed and stable combustion to be achieved, raising the temperatures of the exhaust gases; and        performing the post-injection POST so as to supply hydrocarbons HC to the DeNOx oxidizing catalyzer situated upstream of the particulate filter and make use of the consequent exothermic oxidation reaction thereof in order to raise thus further the temperature of the exhaust gases at the outlet of the oxidizing catalyzer and therefore at the inlet of the particulate filter.
The presence of a post-injection POST performed with a large delay with respect to the combustion TDC (100°–180° after the TDC) is indispensable for correct operation of the method for particulate filter regeneration proposed in the abovementioned patent application EP-A-1,281,852, but has drawbacks associated with the problem of dilution of the lubricating oil.
In fact, the considerable distance from the combustion TDC in terms of crank angle, which is a characteristic of this type of injection, has the effect that the charging conditions inside the cylinder (in particular the pressure and temperature values) are unfavourable from the point of view of penetration of the jet of injected fuel. Essentially, in these conditions, the aerodynamic resistance of the charge and the heat exchanges between the latter and the liquid jet are not sufficient to prevent part of the fuel injected with the injection POST from striking the film of lubricating oil present on the cylinder liners. The droplets of fuel, following contact with the film of lubricating oil, are enveloped inside the said film, in view of the perfect miscibility between the two liquids. With each engine cycle, the veil of lubricating oil contaminated with fuel is conveyed back into the oil sump by one of the resilient rings mounted around the piston (so-called oil scraper rings).
The procedure described above is not the only way in which the fuel is able to come into contact with the lubricating oil.
In fact, owing to the blow-by flow, part of the gases inside the cylinder containing a high percentage of non-combusted hydrocarbons pass by the piston rings directly into the oil sump. Obviously the level and the speed with which the two liquids interact depends on the operating conditions of the engine and on the conditions in which the vehicle is used.
The problems described above are aggravated by the fact that, in order to be able to inject during the injection POST the quantities of fuel necessary for reaching the temperature at which oxidation of the particulate is activated, it is required to operate with maximum penetration of the fuel jet where the jet strikes the cylinder walls; this inevitably results in interaction between the film of lubricating oil and the fuel.
The exposure of the lubricating oil to the fuel results in dilution thereof, expressed as a percentage by weight of fuel present inside the solution, and therefore an alteration of the lubricating properties. In particular, this alteration results in a reduction in the kinematic viscosity of the lubricating oil, which constitutes the main parameter for assessing the quality of the lubricating oil.
From the literature on the subject it can be stated that even a reduction in the viscosity in the region of 30% requires replacement of the lubricating oil, since the latter is no longer able to perform its main functions (reduction of friction, protection of mechanical parts against wear, heat disposal, etc.).
The problem of dilution of the lubricating oil described above is present during the injection POST and therefore during regeneration of the particulate filter over the whole operating range of the engine; however, it becomes even more critical at engine points with low revolutions/loads. In fact at these engine points, the conditions inside the cylinder are less favourable for the purposes of a reduction in penetration of the fuel jet, and the quantities of fuel injected during the injection POST necessary for reaching the temperature triggering oxidation of the particulate are higher.

Method for controlling a diesel engine with a common-rail injection system during regeneration of the particulate filter


In a semiconductor device, at the time of resin sealing, a conductor within the resin is exposed at a surface on which a cooling device is to be mounted. With this configuration, a semiconductor device is capable of determining deterioration in cooling efficiency of the cooling device mounted on the package.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a structure of a semiconductor device capable of determining the degree of contact between cooling means and the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, in a semiconductor device having a large heating value, to cool the semiconductor device, a cooling device is attached to the semiconductor device. In order to improve the cooling efficiency, good contact between the semiconductor device and the cooling device (both of them are in contact with each other so that an effect of the cooling device can be sufficiently displayed) is important.
In the case where the semiconductor device and the cooling device are closely in contact with each other (in the case of good contact), heat from the semiconductor device is sufficiently transmitted to the cooling device, and it means that the semiconductor device is cooled effectively. On the other hand, when the semiconductor device and the cooling device are in contact with each other but not closely attached (in the case of poor contact such as a case where a space exists partly or a case where areas to be in contact are deviated from each other), the semiconductor device is not sufficiently cooled by the cooling device. Consequently, a problem such as erroneous operation due to thermal runaway of the semiconductor device or destruction or the like of the semiconductor device occurs.
Conventionally, to improve the contact between the semiconductor device and the cooling device, a method of making the semiconductor device and the cooling device in contact with each other with pressure by using a resilient member such as a spring, or a method of providing a recess and a projection which are fit to each other in the contact portion of the semiconductor device and that of the cooling device to enlarge the contact area between the semiconductor device and the cooling device is employed.
However, in the cases such that a deviation occurs at the time of attaching the cooling device to the semiconductor device, or a positional deviation occurs between the cooling device and the semiconductor device by an impact from the outside after being fixed, except for actually detecting an increase in temperature of the semiconductor device, there is no method of detecting deterioration in the cooling efficiency of the cooling device. Consequently, there are problems such that erroneous operation of the semiconductor device, and deterioration or destruction in the semiconductor device due to a sharp temperature rise cannot be avoided.
An object of the invention is to provide a semiconductor device capable of knowing deterioration in cooling efficiency of a cooling device by a method other than a method of detecting a temperature rise in the semiconductor device.
According to the invention, a semiconductor device which discharges heat by being in contact with cooling means, includes: contact means provided in a mounting face on which the cooling means is to be mounted so that its level becomes almost the same as that of the mounting face; and measuring means provided between the cooling means and the contact means, for measuring the degree of contact between the cooling means and the semiconductor device.
By enabling the degree of contact between the cooling means and the semiconductor device to be measured, when a deviation occurs in attachment between the cooling device and the semiconductor device, the deviation can be detected before the temperature of the semiconductor device rises. As a result, when it is determined that a deviation occurs in attachment between the cooling device and the semiconductor device, by regulating or interrupting the supply of power to the semiconductor device, erroneous operation of the semiconductor device and deterioration and destruction in the semiconductor device due to a sharp temperature rise can be avoided. Thus, the operation reliability of the semiconductor device can be improved.
In the invention, preferably, the contact means has a first contact terminal and a second contact terminal which come into electric contact with the cooling means, and the measuring means forms a closed circuit in which the first and second contact terminals serve as switching elements which come into contact with the cooling means, and measures whether the closed circuit is closed or not by using the switching elements. By enabling whether the closed circuit is closed or not to be detected and separately providing a resetting circuit, a power supply circuit can be controlled.
In the invention, preferably, the contact means has a first contact terminal and a second contact terminal which come into contact with the cooling means via an insulating member, and the measuring means forms a closed circuit in which the first and second contact terminals serve as capacitative elements and measures electrostatic capacity of the closed circuit. By enabling the change in the electrostatic capacity in the closed circuit to be measured, a delay circuit obtained by combining the closed circuit and a resistor can be constructed, and the supply of power to the semiconductor device can be controlled on the basis of determination of delay time.
In the invention, preferably, the semiconductor device has a semiconductor chip, a plurality of internal electrodes, a plurality of electrodes provided for the semiconductor chip, a plurality of conductors for connecting the electrodes and the corresponding internal electrodes to each other, and a package member for sealing the semiconductor chip, the internal electrodes, the electrodes, and the conductors with a resin, and each of the first and second contact terminals is obtained by exposing a part of selected one of the conductors from the package member in the mounting face on which the cooling means is to be mounted.
Since each of the first and second contact terminals is formed by using a conductor as a part of components of the semiconductor device conventionally used, a semiconductor device having first and second contact terminals can be obtained without employing a new fabrication step while avoiding an increase in cost of providing the first and second contact terminals.
In the invention, preferably, the semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip, a plurality of internal electrodes, a plurality of electrodes provided for the semiconductor chip, a plurality of conductors for connecting the electrodes and the internal electrodes to each other, and a package member for sealing the semiconductor chip, the internal electrodes, and the conductors with a resin, and each of the first and second contact terminals is obtained by exposing a part of selected one of the internal electrodes from the package member in the mounting face on which the cooling means is to be mounted.
Consequently, since each of the first and second contact terminals is formed by using the internal electrode as a part of components of the semiconductor device conventionally used, a semiconductor device having first and second contact terminals can be obtained without employing a new fabrication step while avoiding an increase in cost of providing the first and second contact terminals.
In the invention, preferably, a conductive paste is provided on and around the first and second contact terminals. With the configuration, the stable contact between the first and second contact terminals and the cooling device is achieved, and conduction between the first and second contact terminals and the cooling device can be obtained with reliability.
According to the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device which discharges heat by being in contact with cooling means, including a step of sealing components of the semiconductor device with a package member, the components being a semiconductor chip, a plurality of internal electrodes, a plurality of electrodes provided for the semiconductor chip, and a plurality of conductors for connecting the electrodes to the corresponding internal electrodes, and a removing step of removing a mounting face side with which the cooling means comes into contact of the package member by a predetermined thickness, each of the conductors being formed in a loop so as to open toward the mounting face side, and the removing step includes a step of forming a contact terminal made from an exposed area of the conductor on the mounting face side of the package member by removing the package member so that the apex of the loop of the conductor is exposed.
Consequently, in the case where it is difficult to form contact terminals exposed in the surface by a conventional manufacturing method such as a case where a film of resin is formed on the surface of the conductor, the contact terminal exposed in the surface with reliability can be formed.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A pipe coupling is configured such that when a male coupling member and a female coupling member are to be connected with each other, a valve disposed in the female coupling member is partly inserted into the male coupling member so as to come into press-contact with the valve in the male coupling member, and to cause displacement of the valves, to thereby open a fluid passage in the pipe coupling. An O-ring is provided on the interior surface of the male coupling member. A sleeve is arranged in a female coupling member such that a forward end portion of the sleeve is inserted into the male coupling member in such a manner that the outer surface of the forward end portion of the sleeve sealingly engages with the O-ring, while allowing the valves of the male and female coupling members abut against each other within the forward end portion of the sleeve.

The present invention relates to a pipe coupling.
The present invention has two co-pending applications, one of which is U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/971,955 filed on Oct. 22, 2004. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a pipe coupling comprising a coupling member according to the invention disclosed in the one of the co-pending applications.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pipe coupling 10 comprises: female and male coupling members 12, 12′ having, respectively, valve holders 26, 26′ configured to be movable within through holes 14, 14′ formed through the coupling members, in the axial directions of the through holes; and rotatable valve members 30, 30′ defining substantially spherical shapes and supported by the valve holders to be rotated about pivotal axes A, A′ extending normal to the axial directions of the through holes. When the coupling members 12, 12′ are to be connected with each other, the valve holders 26, 26′ are urged against each other to be moved rearward relative to the coupling members 12, 12′, respectively. In association with this action, the rotatable valve members 30, 30′ are rotated into their opening positions (FIG. 2) to allow a fluid to flow through the coupling members. When the coupling members are to be disconnected from each other, the valve holders 26, 26′ are pushed back under a force exerted by compression springs 28, 28′, and in association with this action, the rotatable valve members 30, 30′ are rotated into their closing positions (FIG. 1) to block the fluid and prevent it from flowing through the through holes 14, 14′ of the coupling members 12, 12′. As described above, in the pipe coupling 10, an opening/closing operation of the rotatable valve members 30, 30′ is effected under axial movement of the valve holders 26, 26′. The valve holders 26, 26′ are sealingly engaged with O-rings 24, 24′ disposed on respective interior surfaces of the coupling members 12, 12′ so that fluid is prevented from leaking to the outside of the pipe coupling through between the coupling members 12, 12′ and the valve holders 26, 26′. In the pipe coupling 10, when the female and the male coupling members 12, 12′ are disconnected from each other, respective valve holders 26, 26′ are forced by the compression springs 28, 28′ to advance forward, so that the rotatable valve members 30, 30′ are rotated to their closing positions.
In the pipe coupling 10 of the co-pending application, it is desired that when the female coupling member is disconnected from the male coupling member 12′, the valve holders 24, 24′ can be smoothly returned under force of the compression spring 28, 28′ without interference by the O-rings 24, 24′ to enable the valve members 30, 30 to be positively brought to their closing positions.

Pipe coupling including first and second coupling members