There are problems in a rotor having a slit that it is difficult to increase the number of rotations of the rotor, since the centrifugal force is received at both ends of the slit, and if the connection part is made thick to increase the number of rotations, the properties of the motor is deteriorated. According to the present invention, a rotor for a synchronous motor includes a slot for generating induction torque and a slit for generating reluctance torque, the slit is filled with a filler, the slit is provided with at least one of a convex and a concave, so that the convex and the concave are formed so as to receive the centrifugal force which is generated by the rotation of the rotor and acts on a part of the rotor outside the slit and the filler so as to bulge toward the outside from the center side of the rotor by mechanical bondage of the filler and the rotor core.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to, for example, a rotor of a synchronous induction motor which starts using induction torque and performs synchronous operation using reluctance torque and devices employing the rotor.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 11 through 13 show a conventional synchronous motor (4 poles): FIG. 11 shows a cross section viewed from an output axis of the synchronous motor; FIG. 12 shows a cross section viewed from a side of the output axis of the synchronous motor; and FIG. 13 shows a cross section of a rotor of the synchronous motor. In the figures, a reference numeral 1 shows a rotor which is fixed to an output axis 3 by such as press fit and formed by laminating in an axial direction. A reference numeral 12 shows a slit which is provided in parallel with another slit in the radial direction so as to become projected toward the center, which is magnetically insulated so as to magnetically induce from a magnetic pole at the rotor 1 to a next magnetic pole.
A reference numeral 9 shows a stator formed by laminating electromagnetic steel plates in the axial direction. 10 shows a coil wound around the stator 9, and a rotation magnetic field is generated by inducing electric current to the coil 10. A part B in FIG. 13 shows a thin connection part, which is a part of a periphery of the rotor 1 and is partially connected to another connection part so as not to separate by slits 12, and which holds the strength of the rotor. The partial connection of the thin connection part can be provided at each part of the rotor 1 to support the strength of the rotor within a range not to disturb the magnetic properties of the motor.
In the synchronous motor formed as described above, it is possible to generate rotation power of the rotor 1 by running exciting current to the coil 10 of the stator 9 so that magnetomotive force acts in direction of the magnetic pole of the magnetic field of the rotor 1. In case of the motor shown in FIG. 11, the rotor rotates following (synchronizing) the rotation magnetic field which is generated by the coil 10 of the stator 9 due to the reluctance torque.
When the rotational position of the rotor 1 is detected using such as a rotational position detector, the magnetic field flux and the torque current can be controlled arbitrarily and precisely, so that it can be said that the synchronous motor is good in controllability as well as a permanent magnet synchronous motor which is highly effective. Further, compared with the induction motor which is generally used, the synchronous motor shown in FIG. 11 does not need secondary electric current running to the rotor, and loss of the rotor is small since there is no rotor copper loss, which makes the motor highly effective.
The conventional synchronous motor is formed as described above, so that there are following problems.
In the rotor 1 of the synchronous motor shown in FIG. 11, the slit 2 is provided to achieve the above performance so as to generate reluctance torque. Accordingly, to keep the form of the rotor, the thin connection part is provided at both ends of the slit 12, fixed mechanically, and the strength can be kept. However, to increase the strength enough to withstand the centrifugal force due to the high-speed rotation, it is necessary to make thick the thin connection part and to increase the number of the thin connection parts.
Further, at each of the thin connection parts of the rotor 1 of the synchronous motor shown in FIG. 11, the magnetic flux, which is functionally unnecessary, is induced, which causes problems such as reduction of generated torque or low efficiency.
Various methods have been developed and proposed to provide the enough strength to withstand the centrifugal force due to the high-speed rotation with the rotor of the synchronous motor shown in FIG. 11.
For example, the Japanese unexamined patent publication No. JP09-191618 discloses a method to fill the slit with nonmagnetic and electrically nonconductive material to solidify the material. The strength may be increased at some extent by the filler according to this method, however, the bondage between the rotor and the filler cannot be sufficient by simple solidification of the filler. There may be another problem that the increase of the centrifugal force due to the added weight of the filler is larger than the bondage according to the dispersion at the mass production of the rotor and that the strength of the rotor must be increased on the contrary.
FIG. 14 and FIGS. 15A through 15C show methods disclosed by the Japanese Utility Gazette Nos. JP61-199177 and JP61-19917815, respectively, in which a concave and a convex are provided at a side of an aluminum bar of an induction motor. These methods are effective to eliminate a gap between the aluminum and the rotor to prevent the breakage of the aluminum bar due to the vibration. However, the stress concentration to the thin connection part cannot be relieved, since the centrifugal force is received at a thin connection part regardless of the existence of the concave and the convex.

Rotor for synchronous induction motor, synchronous induction motor, fan motor, compressor, air conditioner, and refrigerator


An elastomeric bladder stored energy type infusion apparatus which includes a unique fill assembly for use in controllably filling the fluid reservoir of the dispenser portion of the apparatus. The filling assembly includes a prefilled vial which is partially received within a novel adapter assembly that functions to operably couple the prefilled vial with the fluid dispenser subassembly of the apparatus. The body of the prefilled vial is surrounded by a protective covering until immediately prior to mating the assembly with the fluid delivery device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to infusion devices. More particularly, the invention concerns an elastomeric bladder type infusion apparatus which is used for delivering a beneficial agent to a patient at a substantially constant rate. The apparatus uniquely includes a fluid dispensing assembly and a novel fill assembly which can be interconnected with the dispensing assembly for filling the fluid reservoir thereof in the field prior to use.
2. Discussion of the Invention
Many types of infusion pumps embodying an elastomeric balloon or bladder for delivery of a quantity of pharmaceutically active material to a patient have been suggested in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,693 issued to Hessel discloses an infusion pump comprising an elastomeric bladder having at least an open end, and an elongate stress member extending concentrically within the entire length of the hollow portion of the bladder and having a fluid tight seal therewith. Both a filling port and an exit port are provided in the stress member, each in fluid communication with the interior of the bladder by way of an influent and an effluent lumen, respectively. The stress member has a diameter that is greater than the relaxed internal diameter of the bladder, and has a length that exceeds the relaxed internal length of the hollow portion of the bladder, so that it prestresses the bladder in both the axial and radial directions when disposed therein, substantially filling the bladder in its unfilled state. The Hessel device also includes a one-way valve on the stress member which permits flow in the influent lumen only in the direction of the interior of the bladder.
Another type of balloon type infusion device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,929 issued to Perry, et al. The Perry, et al. device has spaced apart inlet and outlet means and the bladder which is capable of expanding and contracting radially and axially upon inflation and deflation. When deflated the lumen of the bladder is substantially completely filled by lumen filling means which protect the bladder from being punctured by the hypodermic needle used to fill and inflate the bladder. The lumen filling means resists the compressive load applied during insertion of the needle and maintains the inlet and outlet means in spaced apart relationship while providing substantially no resistance to the axial expansion of the bladder. By having the lumen of the bladder filled with the lumen filling means when the bladder is deflated, before its subsequent inflation and deflation, substantially complete expulsion of the fluid contents of the bladder can be obtained.
Very early balloon type infusion devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,468,308 and 3,469,578 issued to Bierman. These patents disclose a device for expelling a liquid from a bladder member at an extremely slow rate over an extended period of time. In the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,578, the liquid is expelled solely by pressure induced on the liquid by the internal stresses of the distended bladder member. In the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,308, the liquid is expelled by pressure control means which controls pressure applied to the exterior of the bladder member to control its rate of collapse.
In the devices described in both of the aforementioned patents, the bladder member comprises a balloon, or tube-like member which is typically distendable both lengthwise and laterally when initially pressured. Admission and discharge of liquid is of necessity, through a single neck, or outlet portion of the balloon-like bladder.
None of the prior art devices known to applicant include the unique fill assembly of the present invention which can be used to controllably fill the fluid reservoir of the fluid dispenser portion of the invention in the field. As will be better understood from the description which follows, the fill assembly of the present invention includes a fluid containing vial assembly mounted within a unique adapter assembly which functions to conveniently mate the vial assembly with the fluid dispenser portion of the apparatus to enable expeditious filling of the fluid reservoir thereof. Co-pending application, Ser. No. 08/192,031 describes in detail the construction of several types of elastomeric bladder stored energy type infusion devices of a character similar to the fluid dispenser portion of the apparatus described herein. The apparatus of the present invention comprises an improvement of these devices and accordingly application, Ser. No. 08/192,031, is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety as though fully set forth herein.


A refrigerant charge receptacle (25) is provided for interfacing between an air conditioning system (2) having a high-pressure pipe (241) and a low-pressure pipe (242) and a refrigerant charge apparatus, having a high-pressure charge valve (332a) and a low-pressure charge valve (332b), for charging the air conditioning system (2) with a refrigerant. The refrigerant charge receptacle (25) includes a receptacle block (251) having disposed within a high-pressure bore (251a) having the high-pressure pipe (241) attached thereto and a high-pressure opening (105b). Also disposed within the receptacle block (251) is a low-pressure bore (251b) having the low-pressure pipe (242) attached thereto and a low-pressure opening (106b). A high-pressure receptacle valve (252) is attached to the high-pressure opening (105b) for mating with and receiving a first flow of the refrigerant from the high-pressure charge valve (332a). A low-pressure receptacle valve (253) is attached to the low-pressure opening (106b) for mating with and receiving a second flow of the refrigerant from the low-pressure charge valve (332b).

A typical automotive air conditioning system is located in an automotive engine compartment 1 of an automobile as shown in FIG. 1. An automotive air conditioning system 2 comprises a compressor 21, a condenser 22, a receiver-dryer 23, an evaporator (not shown), and a plurality of pipes 24 connecting the aforementioned components to each other to form a sealed refrigerant circuit. A refrigerant (not shown), such as freon, is disposed within the sealed circuit.
Plurality of pipes 24 includes a high-pressure side pipe 241, disposed between receiver-dryer 23 and the evaporator, for passing the refrigerant therethrough at a high pressure. Plurality of pipes 24 also includes a low-pressure side pipe 242, disposed between the evaporator and compressor 21, for passing the refrigerant therethrough at a low pressure. Pipes 241 and 242 respectively include valves 241a and 242a.
As shown in FIG. 2, valves 241a and 242a allow the refrigerant circuit to be filled, i.e. "charged", with refrigerant. Charging of the circuit is performed by coupling one end 100 (FIG. 2) of a refrigerant charging apparatus to valves 241a and 242a. The other end (not shown) of the refrigerant charging apparatus is coupled to a container (not shown) which stores the refrigerant. The charging apparatus charges the refrigeration circuit with the refrigerant from the container until a proper level of refrigerant is disposed within the circuit. Valves 241a and 242a close to prevent leakage of refrigerant when end 100 is removed.
More specifically, the refrigerant charging apparatus provides a typical connecting structure 103 which includes hoses 31 and 32 extending therefrom. Valves 31a and 32a are respectively set at the ends of hoses 31 and 32. Valves 31a and 32a are covered by caps 101 and 102 respectively when the charging apparatus is not in use. To perform the charging operation, caps 101 and 102 are removed and valves 31a and 32a are respectively coupled to valves 241a and 242a. During the charging operation, the refrigerant flows from the refrigerant charging apparatus into the refrigerant circuit through hoses 31 and 32 and valves 31a, 32a, 241a and 242a.
One problem with connecting structure 103 is the fact that mating valve pair 31a-241a must be coupled separately from mating valve pair 32a-242a. That is, the valve pairs must be coupled at different times. This separate coupling procedure requires a relatively long time.
Another problem with connecting structure 103 is that either one or both of valve pairs 31a-241a and 32a-242a may not mate securely. This unsecured mating may allow refrigerant to leak into and damage the atmosphere. Such a leak may also cause the charging apparatus to erroneously indicate that the circuit has been charged with a proper level of refrigerant. Additionally, if one or both of the valve pairs becomes uncoupled, the charging process is delayed while the uncoupled pair or pairs is recoupled.


The disclosure relates to a cryogenic device for surgical use, which can be used to cool an area of the body and includes: a cryogenic gas supply conduit and a discharge conduit, an end piece comprising a metal tip intended to be brought into contact with the area to be cooled and a gas release chamber and a gas injection nozzle connected to the supply conduit at the one end and opening into the chamber in the direction of the metal tip at the other end. The supply conduit and the discharge conduit are formed in a common flexible extruded tube that is inserted into the end piece.

The invention relates to a cryogenic device for medical applications. The invention more particularly relates to cryogenic device to be used once for ophthalmologic surgery.
In the prior art, cryogenic devices for medical applications are known. Such devices are more particularly used in the field of ophthalmologic cryosurgery and more particularly to treat retinal detachment by generating a cold point making it possible to create an adhesive scar by burning tissues between the retina and the choroid. The devices of the prior art are generally composed of a supply conduit connected to a source of cryogenic gas (nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide), of a conduit for discharging said gas, of a metal tip intended to be brought into contact with the area to be cooled and provided with a gas release chamber and a gas injection nozzle which supplies the gas from the supply conduit to the release chamber.
Manufacturing the devices of the prior art is expensive, takes time and is difficult more particularly because of the number of parts which compose the same. Consequently, in order to limit the costs, the devices are generally intended to be used many times. This imposes that such devices are capable of supporting sterilisation conditions at the hospital or according to international standards, sterilisation is obtained by staying in an autoclave at 125° C. for 10 minutes. Because the French standard is still more restricting since it requires a 20 minutes' stay at 134° C. Such constraints imply technological choices which make the devices still more complex and more expensive. In addition, sterilised devices using this procedure undergo deteriorations imposing frequent and costly maintenance actions when and as they are sterilised.
In order to remedy such drawbacks, the invention aims at providing a cryogenic device to be used once which can be reliable and the manufacturing of which is simple and less expensive. Another object of the invention is also to provide a light ergonomic, sterile and secured cryogenic device.
For this purpose and according to a first aspect, the invention provides a cryogenic device for surgical use making it possible to cool an area of the body including:                an end piece including a metal tip intended to be brought into contact with the area to be cooled and a gas release chamber;        a conduit for supplying the chamber with cryogenic gas; and        a conduit for discharging the cryogenic gas from the chamber; the supply conduit and the discharge conduit being formed in a common flexible extruded tube, one end of which is inserted into the end piece.Then, the number of parts composing the device is limited. In addition, the mounting operations are simplified, since the tube containing both supply and discharge conduits is directly inserted into the end piece.
Advantageously, the end piece is made integral with one end of the flexible tube using gluing means. Then, the number of parts is limited by the utilisation of glue and the mounting is particularly simple. Of course using glue is possible only if the probe is sterilised at a low temperature. In practice, low temperature sterilisation, for example using 45° ethylene oxide, requires extractors which are not available in hospitals and it is thus mainly performed under industrial conditions. As a matter of fact, an attachment using a simple gluing step can be considered only because the mounting of the device is much simplified by the utilisation of a two-conduit unique tube; and thus the manufacturing cost can be globally reduced so much so that a one-time use is economically justified.
In one embodiment, the free end of the flexible tube inserted into the end piece is threaded so as to create a roughness at the gluing interface between the end piece and the flexible tube. Advantageously, the supply conduit has a section which is smaller that of the discharge conduit. In one embodiment, the supply conduit has substantially the shape of a crescent and the end of the support conduit is bevelled. Advantageously, the injection nozzle is inserted into the supply conduit. Preferably, the injection nozzle has a conical injection tip.
In one embodiment of the invention, the cryogenic device includes a nut provided with an internal thread and an external thread, a handle provided with the thread cooperating with the external thread of the nut, the end of the flexible tube being provided with a thread cooperating with the internal thread of the nut. Advantageously, the cryogenic device includes an isolating sleeve covering a portion of the end piece. In practice, the supply conduit is connected to a source of pressurised cryogenic gas. The discharge conduit is connected to a silencer discharging gas towards the outside.


Performing data analytics processing in the context of a large scale distributed system that includes a massively parallel processing (MPP) database and a distributed storage layer is disclosed. In various embodiments, a data analytics request is received. A plan is created to generate a response to the request. A corresponding portion of the plan is assigned to each of a plurality of distributed processing segments, including by invoking as indicated in the assignment one or more data analytical functions embedded in the processing segment.

Distributed storage systems enable databases, files, and other objects to be stored in a manner that distributes data across large clusters of commodity hardware. For example, Hadoop® is an open-source software framework to distribute data and associated computing (e.g., execution of application tasks) across large clusters of commodity hardware.
EMC Greenplum® provides a massively parallel processing (MPP) architecture for data storage and analysis. Typically, data is stored in segment servers, each of which stores and manages a portion of the overall data set. Advanced MPP database systems such as EMC Greenplum® provide the ability to perform data analytics processing on huge data sets, including by enabling users to use familiar and/or industry standard languages and protocols, such as SQL, to specify data analytics and/or other processing to be performed. Examples of data analytics processing include, without limitation, Logistic Regression, Multinomial Logistic Regression, K-means clustering, Association Rules based market basket analysis, Latent Dirichlet based topic modeling, etc.
While distributed storage systems, such as Hadoop®, provide the ability to reliable store huge amounts of data on commodity hardware, such systems have not to date been optimized to support data mining and analytics processing with respect to the data stored in them.

Data analytics platform over parallel databases and distributed file systems


A safety jump training apparatus designed for safely mounting on a wall to permit an athlete to safely measure their vertical leap. The safety jump training apparatus includes a jump measurement device and a rotating support to rotably attach the measurement device to a mounting plate, as well as numerous safety features. The safety features include cooperating locking pin recesses and a locking pin to secure the apparatus in either an operating position or a storage position, a lock to adjustably secure the vertical height of the measurement device, a translation resistor to control the movement of the measurement device when the lock is disengaged, a safety position limiter to ensure that the measurement device is always a predetermined distance above the ground, and a safety cover to safely contain majority of the apparatus.

In the past quarter-century athletes and coaches have come to realize that the vertical leap of an athlete is a good indicator of success in a wide variety of sports. As such, today an athlete's vertical leap is used to measure an athlete's capabilities in much the same way the 40 yard dash is used. With this recognition of the importance of the vertical leap, athletes now train to improve their vertical leap. Accordingly, devices that safely and accurately measure an athlete's vertical leap are in demand.
Prior art jump trainers have failed to incorporate adequate safety features to minimize the risk of an athlete being injured while measuring vertical leap. A common problem with early jump trainers, such as the one of U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,050 was that they were prone to tip over and cause injury to the athlete or coach. To alleviate this problem manufacturers focused on improving the base of the unit that rests on the floor.
One common solution was to add the capability of adding weights in the form of barbell plates to the base. While attempting to solve one problem, another was created. Since jump trainers are commonly located in weight rooms, athletes often remove weights from the base for use on other machines. Such removal again revealed the natural tendency of the jump trainer to tip over. Additionally, the barbell plates are often left scattered around the area of the trainer creating potential hazards for the users. After all, if an athlete measuring their vertical leap lands with a portion of a foot on a plate, even if the plate is only one-quarter to one-half inch thick, the athlete often ends up with a severely sprained, or broken, ankle. Still further, the base units outfitted to accept barbell plates generally include a six to eight inch steel post extending vertically from the corners of the base unit to accept the barbell plates. These steel posts create a potentially life threatening hazard to an athlete that has lost their balance and is falling in the vicinity of the posts.
Yet another problem with conventional jump trainers is that they consume a great deal of floor space and are not easily stored. It is common to see jump trainers scattered about a gymnasium during volleyball or basketball practice. Such jump trainers are a dangerous hazard to a player chasing a ball out of bounds.
Wall-mounted jump trainers have alleviated some of the previously mentioned safety hazards, but not all. For instance, the wall-mounted jump trainer of U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,903 addresses the safety issues surrounding the base of floor mounted units, but presents other safety issues and drawbacks. For instance, the '903 device is a fixed jump trainer that is not vertically adjustable and is permanently affixed to the wall. Rigidly attached jump trainers that extend orthogonally from the wall pose just as great a danger, if not greater, to athletes than ground mounted units. In such installations the bottom of the jump trainer is at the head height of many athletes and creates an even greater danger than the floor mounted units, because it is rigidly attached to the wall. Therefore, one can imagine that if such wall-mounted trainers were located around the perimeter of a gymnasium, an athlete chasing a loose ball could accidentally strike the device and knock themselves unconscious.
Accordingly, the art has needed a wall-mounted jump training apparatus that is easy to use, safe, and can be conveniently stored away when not in use.


Secure transmission of data is provided between a plurality of computer systems over a public communication system, such as the Internet. Secure transmission of data is provided from a customer computer system to a merchant computer system, and for the further secure transmission of data from the merchant computer system to a payment gateway computer system. The payment gateway system evaluates the information and returns authorization or denial of credit via a secure transmission to the merchant which is communicated to the customer by the merchant.

It is desirable for a computer operated under the control of a merchant to obtain information offered by a customer and transmitted by a computer operating under the control of the customer over a publicly accessible packet-switched network (e.g., the Internet) to the computer operating under the control of the merchant, without risking the exposure of the information to interception by third parties that have access to the network, and to assure that the information is from an authentic source. It is further desirable to have the ability for the merchant to transmit information, including a subset of the information provided by the customer, over such a network to a payment gateway computer system that is authorized, by a bank or other financial institution that has the responsibility of providing payment on behalf of the customer, to authorize a commercial transaction on behalf of such a financial institution, without the risk of exposing that information to interception by third parties. Such institutions include, for example, financial institutions offering credit or debit card services.
One such attempt to provide such a secure transmission channel is a secure payment technology such as Secure Electronic Transaction (hereinafter "SET"), jointly developed by the Visa and MasterCard card associations, and described in Visa and MasterCard's Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) Specification, Feb. 23, 1996, hereby incorporated by reference. Other such secure payment technologies include Secure Transaction Technology ("STT"), Secure Electronic Payments Protocol ("SEPP"), Internet Keyed Payments ("iKP"), Net Trust, and Cybercash Credit Payment Protocol. One of ordinary skill in the art will readily comprehend that any of the secure payment technologies can be substituted for the SET protocol without undue experimentation. Such secure payment technologies require the customer to operate software that is compliant with the secure payment technology, interacting with third-party certification authorities, thereby allowing the customer to transmit encoded information to a merchant, some of which may be decoded by the merchant, and some which can be decoded only by a payment gateway specified by the customer. A drawback to the secure payment technology approach is that it requires deployment of special-purpose software compliant with the particular secure payment technology to the customer, thereby limiting user acceptance of the secure payment technology to those customers willing to install that software. Customers are generally reluctant to install such specialized software in the absence of a general acceptance of merchant software and payment gateway software that incorporate the corresponding secure payment technology with which to interact. Similarly, merchants and payment gateways are reluctant to implement a secure payment technology in the absence of an installed customer base that is available to use that secure payment technology. This presents a "chicken-and-the-egg" problem in that no particular component of a secure payment technology is likely to achieve general acceptance until the other components also achieve general acceptance.
Another such attempt to provide such a secure transmission channel is a general-purpose secure communication protocol such as Netscape, Inc.'s Secure Sockets Layer (hereinafter "SSL") , as described in Freier, Karlton & Kocher (hereinafter "Freier"), The SSL Protocol Version 3.0, March 1996, and hereby incorporated by reference. SSL provides a means for secure transmission between two computers. SSL has the advantage that it does not require special-purpose software to be installed on the customer's computer because it is already incorporated into widely available software that many people utilize as their standard Internet access medium, and does not require that the customer interact with any third-party certification authority. Instead, the support for SSL may be incorporated into software already in use by the customer, e.g., the Netscape Navigator World Wide Web browsing tool. However, although a computer on an SSL connection may initiate a second SSL connection to another computer, a drawback to the SSL approach is each SSL connection supports only a two-computer connection. Therefore, SSL does not provide a mechanism for transmitting encoded information to a merchant for retransmission to a payment gateway such that a subset of the information is readable to the payment gateway but not to the merchant. Although SSL allows for robustly secure two-party data transmission, it does not meet the ultimate need of the electronic commerce market for robustly secure three-party data transmission. Other examples of general-purpose secure communication protocols include Private Communications Technology ("PCT") from Microsoft, Inc., Secure Hyper-Text Transport Protocol ("SHTTP") from Theresa Systems, Shen, Kerberos, Photuris, Pretty Good Privacy ("PGP") and Ipv6 which meets the IPSEC criteria. One of ordinary skill in the art will readily comprehend that any of the general-purpose secure communication protocols can be substituted for the SSL transmission protocol without undue experimentation.

System, method and article of manufacture for secure network electronic payment and credit collection


A frequency chirp correction method for the photonic time-stretch system comprises acquiring the stretching signal, i.e. acquiring the time-domain data after the time-domain stretching. First, the time-domain data of the stretching signal is Fourier transformed to obtain the spectral distribution. The spectral distribution is then convoluted with the first frequency-domain correction factor, and then multiplied with the second frequency-domain correction factor to obtain the modified frequency spectrum. Finally, the modified frequency spectrum is performed by the inverse Fourier transform to obtain the time-domain signal after the frequency chirp correction.

High speed analog-to-digital converters have broad application prospects in broadband communication, radar, electronic countermeasures and other fields. With the continuous improvement of processing signal bandwidth, the performance of analog-to-digital converter also has higher requirements. But in the high frequency range, due to the limitation of the timing jitter of electronic devices and the uncertainty of comparator, a sampling rate of electronic analog-to-digital converter (ADC) over 20GS/s is difficult to achieve, which to some extent becomes the bottleneck of the development of ultra-wideband technology. In order to overcome the limitation of electronic constraints on analog-to-digital converter performance, many photonic ADC technologies have been proposed. Compared with traditional electronic ADC, photonic ADC has a higher sampling rate and has the performance of anti-electromagnetic interference and radiation resistance. Among many solutions of photonic ADC, the photonic time-stretch ADC has been widely concerned. The technique of photonic time stretch utilizes the group velocity dispersion effect in the dispersion link to broaden the modulated pulse optical signal, thus reducing the frequency of the modulated RF signal on the optical pulse, thereby reducing the sampling rate requirement of the ADC.
The structure of the photonic time-stretch system is shown in FIG. 1. The working process of the system is that the mode locked laser 1 generates the ultrashort pulse laser, filtering out the appropriate wave band by the optical filter 2, and then the appropriate wave band passes through the first optical fiber 3. Due to the dispersion effect, the chirped optical pulse is obtained. The chirped optical pulse passes through the M-Z electro-optical modulator 5, and modulates the microwave signal 4 on the envelope of chirped optical pulse in the way of single arm double-sideband modulation to output the optical carried microwave signal. The optical carried microwave signal passes through the second optical fiber 6, due to the dispersion effect, it is further stretched in the time-domain. The stretched optical carried microwave signal is then photoelectric converted and quantification sampled by photodetector 7 and analog-to-digital converter 8 to obtain the digital stretching signal. The existing theoretical models of photonic time-stretch system are mostly analyzed and set up based on the linear group velocity dispersion of optical fiber. The linear dispersion will bring the problem of power periodic fading to the photonic time-stretch system. The nonlinear group velocity dispersion of optical fiber is related to the transmission wavelength, and the wavelength range of the light source is wide in the photonic time-stretch system. Therefore, in the actual system application, different time segments in the same pulse period may stretch different multiples due to the nonlinear dispersion, so that the frequency chirp of the output signal occurs.
The frequency chirp of the output signal of the photonic time-stretch system will reduce the effective bits of the ADC assisted by the photonic time-stretch system, generate carrier detection error and affect the accurate demodulation of the output broadband communication signal of the photonic time-stretch system. The existing photonic time-stretch system model does not analyze the frequency chirp of the output signal caused by the nonlinear dispersion, at the same time, there is also a lack of methods to correct this problem.

Frequency chirp correction method for photonic time-stretch system


According to one embodiment, a medical image processing apparatus includes the processing circuitry. The processing circuitry generates an image from volume data. The volume data is generated based on echo data acquired while the ultrasonic probe is moved and output of a positional sensor provided on the ultrasonic probe. The processing circuitry further generates an indicator indicating speed of the ultrasonic probe and recommended speed range of moving the ultrasonic probe. The speed of the ultrasonic probe is calculated based on the output of the positional sensor. The processing circuitry causes a display to display the image and the indicator.

As a method of generating three-dimensional ultrasonic image data (i.e., ultrasonic volume data, hereinafter, referred to as volume data) by using an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, there is a known method of generating volume data by arranging a series of ultrasonic tomographic images which are acquired by imaging an object at a predetermined frame rate while an ultrasonic probe is being moved. In this method, it is important for acquiring volume data having sufficiently uniform data density that an ultrasonic probe is moved at a constant velocity. When an ultrasonic probe is moved at a constant velocity and imaging is performed at a predetermined frame rate, it is possible to acquire isochronal ultrasonic tomographic images and volume data with uniform data density.
For instance, in the case of generating respective images of arbitrary cross-sections from volume data, image quality of these cross-sectional images depends on data density of the corresponding cross-sections in the volume data. Data density of volume data depends on velocity of an ultrasonic probe. Thus, for instance, when a velocity component of an ultrasonic probe in the direction along the target cross-section to be extracted in the form of an image increases, data density within this target cross-section is reduced and image quality of this target cross-section is deteriorated. Hence, in order to acquire a cross-sectional image with satisfactory image quality from volume data, it is desirable to move an ultrasonic probe at a speed within a predetermined speed range.

Medical image processing apparatus and medical image processing method


A dry vacuum pump may include a stator which defines an internal chamber in which a rotor is rotationally mounted. A sensor is mounted to the stator and has an output connected to a processing circuit arranged to analyse the output of the sensor to determine the absolute distance between a point on the surface of the rotor and internal stator surface. The rotor to stator clearance can thus be accurately determined in real time during operation of the pump, so that the pump performance can be optimised over its serviceable life.

So-called dry vacuum pumps are used in many industrial applications, including the manufacture of semiconductor devices where a benign and clean environment is required in which processing of the semiconductor wafers can be performed. Vacuum environments are known to be sufficient for these processes to be performed without contamination. In use, a dry vacuum pump is used to evacuate a chamber in which the manufacturing process is performed.
Such dry vacuum pumps typically comprise a Roots mechanism, which operates by pumping air with a pair of intermeshing lobed rotors mounted inside a stator. However, other kinds of dry pumping mechanisms can be used, such as hook and claw, Northey, mechanisms or screw mechanisms.
The common feature linking such dry vacuum pumps is that no sealing fluid is used between the stator and rotor(s). Such sealing fluids are undesirable because they can vaporise and migrate into the process chamber and cause contamination of the semiconductor being processed. The efficiency of the pump is thus dependent on maintaining a clearance between the stator and rotor(s) and any intermeshing rotor components within a specific tolerance.
At present, a typical dry vacuum pump relies on good design and manufacturing techniques to keep the clearances between the rotors and stator of the pump within desirable limits and to maintain these clearances throughout the operational cycles of the pump, and as the pump heats up.


A data transmission method suitable for a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a plurality of first stations which uses an 802.11 protocol and a plurality of second stations which uses an 802.11e protocol and supports Quality of Service (QoS). The data transmission method includes following steps. One of the second stations is used as a Contention AssisTance (CAT) station to obtain a medium access right with a first access category (AC). The second station broadcasts a CAT packet to all the first stations and the other second stations. The other second stations stop contending for the medium access right for a first predetermined time according to the CAT packet, and the first stations transmit a packet with a QoS requirement according to the CAT packet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data transmission method and a communication system using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
802.11 wireless network technique provided by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has become the mainstream in the wireless network market under the strong promotion of the WiFi alliance for it is easy to install and uses only license-free bands. However, according to the original specification of 802.11 standard, all 802.11 STAs (stations) (legacy 802.11 stations) share and equally contend for the same medium. Thus, it is impossible to assign these 802.11 STAs different priorities for the contention according to the requirements of their packets to the Quality of Service (QoS). Accordingly, the IEEE designated an 802.11e team in 1999 to establish two medium access mechanisms: enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) mechanism and hybrid coordination function (HCF) controlled channel access (HCCA) mechanism. Both of these mechanisms are backward compatible to conventional 802.11 medium access control (MAC) mechanisms, such as the distributed coordination function (DCF) and the point coordination function (PCF).
FIG. 1 illustrates the infrastructure of the EDCA mechanism, the HCCA mechanism, and the conventional 802.11 MAC mechanisms DCF and PCF. Referring to FIG. 1, the infrastructure 100 includes DCF, PCF, EDCA mechanism for HCF contention access, HCCA, and HCF, wherein these mechanisms are all within the extension of the MAC layer.
The shortcoming of DCF is that the idling time will decrease along with the increase of the contention between a plurality of workstations for a wireless medium. The shortcoming of PCF is that the polling method adopted has low efficiency. The 802.11e standard can provide better Quality of Service (QoS) to wireless networks in the MAC layer through aforementioned mechanisms.
The format of a MAC packet in the IEEE 802.11 standard is slightly changed in the IEEE 802.11e standard, wherein a two bytes traffic category identifier (TCID) field is added in the header of the MAC packet, and the last three bits in the TCID field are used for indicating the level of a workstation which transmits the packet. Totally eight levels can be distinguished by the three bits.
According to the EDCA mechanism, a priority is assigned to each transmission data, and the data having higher priority is first transmitted. The priority is related to the carrier sense time, the compensation time, and the frame transmission time. Voice data has the highest priority, and video data is next to it. It is considered that terminals are increased and accordingly the compensation time is further prolonged if a data transmission fails. According to the HCCA mechanism, priorities are assigned by a hybrid coordination program. Each terminal has to notify the hybrid coordination program in advance about the information, such as the data type, the desired band width, and the time duration thereof. Based on such information, the hybrid coordination program assigns the priorities to the terminals or performs a polling operation on all the terminals.
FIG. 2 illustrates the preset value of an EDCA parameter set, wherein AC_BE represents the optimal performance (with higher priority), AC_BK represents the background (with lower priority), AC_VI represents the video (with the highest priority), and AC_VO represents the voice (with the highest priority). In addition, CWmin represents the minimum value of a contention window, CWmax represents the maximum value of the contention window, and AIFSN represents a collision sense signal. These parameters may affect the deferring time of the access category. The values of AC_VI and AC_VO should be set to lower values if voice or video service is used, and the values of AC_BE and AC_BK should be set to higher values if E_mail or webpage service is used.
The DCF access parameters for the conventional 802.11 standard are as followings: CWmin has value aCWmin(31), CWmax has value aCWmax(1023), and DIFS is corresponding to the arbitration inter-frame space (AIFS) having AIFSN as 2. It can be observed through comparison that the medium access priority of DCF is between AC_BE and AC_VI. However, because 802.11e standard and 802.11 standard have different designs in the backoff countdown mechanism, the medium access priority of DCF is substantially corresponding to AC_BE (as shown in FIG. 3) according to the experimental result of the reference article "Understanding 802.11e contention-based prioritization mechanisms and their coexistence with legacy 802.11 stations" by G. Bianchi, I. Tinnirello, and L. Scalia in pages 28˜34, IEEE Volume 19, Issue 4, July-August 2005, Network. The abscissa in FIG. 3 indicates the number of 802.11 STAs (stations) and 802.11e QSTAs (stations with OoS) coexist in the network, and the ordinate in FIG. 3 indicates the corresponding throughput, wherein the value of CWmin is set to 31, and the value of CWmax is set to 1023. It can be observed from FIG. 3 that even though the contention windows of all the EDCA QSTAs are enlarged to the same as that of DCF, the 802.11e QSTAs have higher priorities compared to the 802.11 STAs in medium contention through the setting of AIFSN.
As shown in FIG. 2, the value of AIFSN of AC_VO and AC_VI is preset to 2. Referring to FIG. 3, it can be observed by comparing the throughputs of EDCA and DCF when the value of AIFSN is 2 that the 802.11e QSTAs have much higher chances of taking up the medium than the 802.11 STAs, and when the number of stations increases, the advantage for EDCA to contend for the medium is also multiplied and accordingly the throughput of all the DCF STAs is reduced.
Such service division could be acceptable if the packets transmitted by the 802.11 STAs are in a best effort traffic; however, if the 802.11 STA are also about to transmit voice or video packets having higher priorities, all the packets equally contend for the medium so as to obtain the transmission right with a access parameter set about the same as the best effort category because the MAC of DCF does not support access parameters of different categories, and which may cause unfairness to those packets having higher QoS requirement in the 802.11 STA. Since the packets having higher priorities of the 802.11 STA cannot obtain the access to the medium, the corresponding stations for transmitting these packets cannot provide the QoS as expected even though they are 802.11e QSTAs with QoS.
In foregoing reference article, the performance of EDCA in service differentiation is analyzed through simulative experiments, wherein it shows that the adjustment to AIFS has obviously better performance than the adjustment to the contention window in order to obtain better service differentiation performance, and meanwhile, the experimental result shows that the behaviors of a conventional 802.11 STA is very similar to that of the best effort category of an 802.11e QSTA, which also indicates the inferior performance in medium contention of the conventional 802.11 STA and the first two traffic categories having high priorities of the 802.11e QSTA in an coexistent environment thereof.
In the article "Performance Analysis of Priority Schemes for IEEE 802.11 and 802.11e Wireless LANs" by Yang Xiao, pages 1506˜1515, in Wireless Communications, IEEE Transactions on Volume 4, Issue 4, July 2005, an analysis model adaptive to EDCA is provided, wherein it shows that the performance of EDCA in its throughput and QoS (including delay and packet loss rate) is closely related to the settings of its parameters.
In the article "Impact of frame size, number of stations and mobility on the throughput performance of IEEE 802.11e" by J. del Prado Pavon, S. N. Shankar in pages 789˜795 of Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, 2004. WCNC. 2004 IEEE Volume 2, 21-25 Mar. 2004 Vol. 2, the effect of frame size to EDCA is explained with experimental results, and the experiment shows that the throughput performance of EDCA is less affected by bad link compared to the conventional DCF.
In some other articles, an admission control algorithm is provided regarding EDCA, wherein the QoS of packets having high priorities are maintained by managing the traffic of the entire network, or a mechanism regarding HCCA environment is provided, wherein the value of TXOP is set according to the actual transmission rate of packets in the physical layer so as to provide more efficient QoS, or the problem of radio resource sharing caused by QoS supporting basic service set (QBSS) working in the same band regarding EDCA environment is resolved.

Data transmission method and communication system using the same

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A compressed air supply installation for operating a pneumatic installation, especially an air suspension installation of a vehicle, includes an air supply unit and an air compression unit for supplying a compressed air supply unit with compressed air, a pneumatic connection, especially a bleeding line, comprising a bleeding valve and a bleeding port for bleeding air, and a pneumatic connection, especially a compressed air supply line having an air drier and a compressed air port for supplying the pneumatic installation with compressed air The air drier has a drier container through which compressed air can flow and which contains a desiccant. The drier container has a wall forming a desiccant-free recess, and at least part of the bleeding valve system is arranged in the recess.

Compressed air supply installations are used in all kinds of vehicles, particularly to supply vehicle air suspension systems with compressed air. Air suspension systems may also include level control mechanisms, with which the distance between the vehicle axle and the vehicle body can be set. An air suspension system in a pneumatic system comprises a number of air bellows pneumatically connected to a common line (header), which lift the vehicle body as they fill up and lower it as they deflate. As the distance between the vehicle axle and the vehicle body, or ground clearance, increases, the spring deflections become longer and even relatively significant surface unevenness can be overcome without coming into contact with the vehicle body. Systems of this kind are used in off-road vehicles and sports utility vehicles (SUVs). Particularly in the case of SUVs with very powerful engines, it is desirable for the vehicle to be provided, on the one hand, with comparatively low ground clearance for high-speed road driving and, on the other hand, with comparatively high ground clearance for off-road driving. It is furthermore desirable for a change in ground clearance to be made as quickly as possible, thereby increasing demands in relation to the speed, flexibility and reliability of a compressed air supply installation.
A compressed air supply installation for use in a pneumatic system with a pneumatic unit, for example an air suspension system, is operated using compressed air from a compressed air supply, within the limits of a pressure level of 5 to 20 bar, for example. The compressed air is made available to the compressed air supply using an air compressor. The compressed air supply is pneumatically connected to a compressed air connection to supply the pneumatic unit and, on the other hand, is pneumatically connected to a vent port. By means of a vent valve arrangement, the compressed air supply installation and/or pneumatic unit can be vented towards the vent port by releasing air.
In order to realize long-term operation of the compressed air supply installation, the system comprises an air drier, with which the compressed air can be dried. The accumulation of moisture in the pneumatic system, which can otherwise lead to valve-damaging crystal formation and other undesirable effects in the compressed air supply installation and in the pneumatic unit at comparatively low temperatures, is thereby avoided. An air drier comprises a drying agent, customarily a granulate fill, through which the compressed air can flow, so that the granulate fill can adsorb moisture contained in the compressed air at comparatively high pressure. An air drier may, where appropriate, be designed as a regenerative air drier. This involves dried compressed air from the air suspension system being passed through the granulate fill at comparatively low pressure in counter-current or co-current flow relative to the filling direction during each venting cycle. The vent valve arrangement may be opened for this purpose. For an application of this kind—also referred to as pressure swing adsorption—it is desirable for a compressed air supply installation to be flexibly and, at the same time, reliably designed. In particular, comparatively rapid venting should be made possible, yet there should be a sufficient pressure swing to allow regeneration of the air drier.
A solenoid valve for implementing a multiple function may be realized with at least three connected pneumatic chambers—namely, for the pneumatic connection of functionally different pneumatic chambers, which are always separate and have different pressures applied to them—having two mechanically separate lifting armatures in a common exciter winding of the solenoid valve. Each of the lifting armatures is allocated to a different separate pneumatic chamber in this case. A dual-armature solenoid valve of this kind is disclosed in principle in DE 201 60 30, for example, or in the present applicant's DE 35 01 708 A1 or DE 10 2006 041 010 A1, for example. The basic method of operation of a dual-armature solenoid valve can be derived from the applicant's DE 10 2004 035 763 A1, for example.
The applicant's DE 35 429 74 A1 discloses a level control mechanism for vehicles with air filters, with which a predetermined distance between the vehicle cell and the vehicle axle can be maintained by inflating or deflating the air springs according to the vehicle load. The mechanism contains a safety valve that can be controlled using the pressure in the air springs. A compressed air supply installation of this kind can be further improved.
DE 199 11 933 B4 discloses a compressed air generator having an air drier with a first compressed air supply line, wherein the compressed air is conducted through a drying agent, and with a second compressed air supply line, in which the compressed air is not conducted through the drying agent.
A compressed air supply installation of the general type under consideration is also disclosed in EP 1 165 333 B2 in the context of a pneumatic system with an air suspension system. Apart from a separately closable main venting line, this exhibits a high-pressure venting line with an additional high-pressure vent valve alongside the main vent valve pneumatically actuated using a control valve in the main venting line and which is connected in parallel to the main venting line. The free flow-through cross-section of the separate high-pressure vent valve is smaller than that of the main vent valve. A compressed air supply installation of this kind can also be further improved. When a compressed air supply installation of this kind is vented via the high-pressure venting line, dry air is vented, which is not used to regenerate the drying agent. This represents an unnecessary waste of dry air, particularly in the event that a suitable flexible, rapid and yet reliable actuation of the compressed air supply installation with a correspondingly high actuation rate should be necessary for the above applications. Although a main vent valve that can be configured with a comparatively large nominal width can be pneumatically pre-controlled via the control valve provided with a comparatively small nominal width, an arrangement of this kind designed for the indirect connection of a pressure volume is comparatively expensive.
A compressed air control mechanism with an air drier is disclosed in EP 1 233 183 B1. The housing of the air drier includes a cup-shaped drying container, the inside of which is connectable via the housing firstly to a pressurizing agent source and secondly to a connection element in the form of a pressure reservoir and/or an air spring via a valve opening. The housing exhibits an air inlet and an air outlet for compressed air in each case, the air being conducted in a flow direction from the air inlet through the drying container to the air outlet, in order to inflate the connection element. For deflation, the compressed air is removed in the opposite flow direction from the air outlet through the drying container and the housing. A controllable directional valve is integrated and fitted into the housing of the air drier, the valve serving to allow the air into the inside of the housing and the drying container during deflation. A directional valve controlling the discharge channel is actuated by at least one further controllable directional valve using the pressure during deflation. This directional valve is arranged substantially outside the housing of the air drier.
A compressed air system with an outlet valve that can be charged by a compressor and exhibits a compressed air unit is disclosed in DE 32 16 329 C2, wherein a pressure-retention valve is provided in a flow-back line between the compressed air storage container, on the one hand, and the container holding a drying agent and also the outlet valve, on the other. The outlet valve and a pressure regulator regulating it are continuously connected to a hollow rod by the container holding the drying agent.
These and other solutions from the prior art for an air drier have proved to be comparatively demanding in terms of installation space. What is needed is a compressed air supply unit having a vent valve arrangement and an air drier that can be set up in the most space-saving manner possible.

Compressed air supply installation and pneumatic system


A transmission is structured to include a drive shaft, a counter shaft, a gear train bridged between each of a drive shaft input shaft and output shaft and the counter shaft, and a dog clutch mechanism selectively switching a high shift speed and a low shift speed in a transmission chamber. In a lower part of a lower bearing of the counter shaft in a bottom part of the transmission chamber, a lower reserve part of lubrication oil is provided, and a lubrication oil pump sending lubrication oil to respective parts of the transmission from the lower reserve part is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission in an outboard motor having a drive shaft which couples an engine in an upper part and a propeller in a lower part.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, among outboard motors in which an engine as a driving force source disposed in an upper part of an outboard motor body and a propelling device having a propeller disposed in a lower part are coupled to each other via a drive shaft, there are ones in which a transmission is provided in an appropriate middle position of the drive shaft. The transmission is shifted according to the traveling state of a boat having such an outboard motor, to an environment, or the like, so as to improve power performance, fuel consumption performance, and so on of the outboard motor.
Various types are devised as a specific structure for such transmissions. For example, in an outboard motor described in Patent Document 1, an automatic transmission made up of two planetary gears, three multiple wet clutches, and one one-way clutch is provided on a drive shaft coupling an engine and a propelling device (lower unit). According to this example, by setting the position of the transmission to a substantially middle portion in a vertical direction of the outboard motor, an outboard motor with a transmission can be realized compactly without affecting the profile of the entire outboard motor, thereby achieving both acceleration performance and fuel consumption performance.
Moreover, in one described in Patent Document 2, a two-speed transmission is constituted of parallel-axis spur gears which have high power transmission efficiency. Further, there are known one in which a switch point of the transmission is set by using a centrifugal clutch, one in which a transmission case and a water pump case are constituted integrally as in Patent Document 3, and the like.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-149202
Patent Document 2: Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 03-14273
Patent Document 3: Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. 04-27757
Patent Document 4: Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 06-104475
In one of Patent Document 1, the multiple wet clutches need a strong hydraulic device, which is expensive and for which energy needed for operating a hydraulic pump to maintain hydraulic pressure is large, becoming a cause of hindering fuel consumption performance. Further, although the multiple wet clutches couple smoothly, unlike the case of a four-wheeled vehicle, this function is not needed as much as in the case of a four-wheeled vehicle because changes in propeller speed of a propeller which only has small inertial moment are absorbed in the outboard motor. Accordingly, for the multiple wet clutches, a merit of alleviating shift shock is small with respect to high price, large weight, and large operating energy. Besides this, the planetary gears are expensive, and moreover, they are inferior to parallel-axis spur gears with respect to motive power transmission efficiency, and the like. From these points, it goes without saying that they are not suitable for outboard motors.
Further, a shift change mechanism in one of Patent Document 2 is a mechanical link mechanism, and is not able to suppress a shock transmitted to the link when it is shifted. Then, the position at an intermediate point is tolerated at a time of shift transition, and thus there is a problem of wear due to a relative speed difference. Moreover, it is set to a low speed side at a time of motive power direct coupling or to a high speed side at a time of via counter. Thus, while cruising which largely affects fuel consumption, it is motive power transmission via counter, and the fuel consumption worsens by the amount of gear transmission efficiency.
Moreover, in one of Patent Document 3, a counter shaft is disposed in a front side in a traveling direction, and a counter gear is housed in a gear case of forward tapered type, which is advantageous in terms of hydromechanics. Thus, a large-diameter gear cannot be disposed, causing a strength-related problem. Further, gear shift is performed by the mechanical link mechanism, and hence there is a problem that a shock at a time of speed shift is transmitted as is to the link side, and the like.
On the other hand, the transmission as described above has a large number of moving parts, and lubrication of them is quite important for securing smooth operation. For example, in one of Patent Document 4, part of the transmission is immersed in lubrication oil pressure of an oil pan of lubrication oil for engine, to thereby lubricate main parts of the transmission. In this manner, special contrivances are made for lubricating the transmission, or special devices for lubrication have been required.


An oscillator circuit (100) provides improved noise immunity by utilizing a differential common base configuration. The oscillator includes a differential transistor pair (102, 104) having common bases (110) coupled through an AC ground (108) and emitters coupled through a differential common mode point (120). First and second resonant tank circuits are each referenced to the differential common mode point (120) for generating a differential output (OUT, OUTX).

Oscillators are used in a variety of electronic circuits. The simplest and most traditional of oscillators uses an inductor (L) and a capacitor (C) in an LC tank circuit with an amplifier to overcome inescapable circuit losses that would otherwise dampen any oscillations in the LC tank. The frequency of oscillation depends on the circuit inductance (inductor L plus stray inductances Ls) and the circuit capacitance (capacitor C plus stray capacitances Cs). The general formula relating frequency to inductance is: ##EQU1##
More accurate frequencies are generated by crystal oscillators where the piezoelectric effect of a cut crystal is used to source a weak frequency signal that is built up by an amplifier. Crystal oscillators have the advantage of very accurate and stable frequency operation, but are difficult to tune to other frequencies because the crystal cannot be reactively pulled off its natural frequency by more than a few fractions of a percent.
Frequency synthesis with phase locked loops (PLLs) involves a type of oscillator that has crystal oscillator accuracy and stability, and yet can be tuned to a wide range of frequencies. Most modern day radios, television, and communications equipment use frequency synthesis. A fixed crystal oscillator is used in a synthesizer to generate a reference frequency. A phase detector compares the reference frequency to the output of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) after being divided down by a counter. The output of the phase detector is amplified and integrated for use as a control to the VCO. The output of the VCO will lock onto a harmonic "N" of the reference frequency, where "N" is the count value of the divider
Regardless of the circuit application, the design of oscillator circuits has always involved weighing various tradeoffs. High parts count and cost, resonator size, current drain, noise performance, required bandwidth, and external interference sensitivity are just a few of the issues to be considered when designing an oscillator circuit. For example, mobile/portable radio communication units are limited in the size and weight of devices they can incorporate. One approach to this size constraint is the complete integration of a VCO. While integration alleviates the size and cost issues, the external interference sensitivity and noise levels can still be a problem even in an integrated environment.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved oscillator design which provides reduced noise interference sensitivity. An oscillator design which would also lend itself to single chip integration and be less susceptible to process variations would be beneficial to radio circuit designs, particularly those utilizing VCOs.

Oscillator circuit having a differential configuration and method of forming same


An extrusion die slot for extruding flat thermoplastic webs has a plurality of plates mounted to the flexible lip of the die body. A regulating force from a control element is applied to the plates, and so to the flexible lip, via the flexible strip pressed between the control element and the plates.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an extrusion slot die with a flexible lip and a multiplicity of control elements that act on the lip to regulate the slot width so as to extrude flat webs, in particular sheets, of thermoplastics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Extrusion slot dies (100) with flexible lips have, as seen in FIG. 2, a relatively long lip section (102) which, as a result of its small thickness, is elastic and makes possible a change in the slot width by control elements (104) that act on the lip. In the front part (106) of the lip, where the control elements (104) act, the lip must be thickened to support forces from the control elements. In practice, the thickness of the lip in this area is always more than 20 mm, thus considerably limiting its flexibility.
Because the lip is very thick at its tip section in the known extrusion slot dies, the possibilities for precise control of the lip width are limited. For example, due to the melt elasticity, the web leaving the die has a tendency to contract in width while becoming thicker, which can be countered only by reducing the slot width at the sides of the slot. Such fine control is difficult in the prior art.
Also, on every other point of the die local thickness fluctuations of the extruded web can occur due, for example, to inaccuracies in the temperature control that must be compensated for by a countercontrol of the slot width. The rigidity of the front lip area places limits on this precision control.


This invention relates to a BiMOS IC, such as BiCMOS IC, and production method thereof. The present invention forms an impurity layer for preventing field concentration in a bipolar transistor by the same or a different process step than that for forming a diffusion layer of a MOS FET (such as a p-layer for the channel stopper), in order to improve the breakdown voltage of the bipolar transistor (such as a p-layer as the base of a bipolar npn transistor) of a BiMOS IC having the bipolar transistor and MOS FET formed on the same semiconductor substrate. Thus, the invention can provide a BiMOS IC having an improved breakdown voltage of the bipolar semiconductor device portion without drastically changing the production process of the BiMOS IC.

This invention relates to a semiconductor device and a production method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique of improving the breakdown voltage of a semiconductor device which incorporates a bipolar IC and a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) IC in one semiconductor chip (hereinafter referred to as "BiCMOS IC").
The operation speed and packaging density of bipolar ICs tend to increase more and more, and progress has been made in miniaturization techniques and self-alignment techniques, using selective oxide films as means for accomplishing these objects. On the other hand, in using such selective oxide films for accomplishing such objects, problems have occurred in that the production process becomes more complicated and the breakdown voltage drops. These problems are discussed in "Nikkei Electronics", 1983, June 20, pp. 179-207, published by Nikkei-McGrawHill Co.

Semiconductor device and production method thereof


Disclosed are methods and systems for frustrating statistical attacks. A sender and receiver agree upon an encryption and integrity encoding scheme. For each “real” data packet, the sender generates integrity information, puts it in the packet, and then encrypts the packet using the agreed-upon scheme. Every now and again, the sender generates a “pseudo-data” packet encoded using a scheme different from the agreed-upon scheme. When the real-data and pseudo-data packets arrive at the receiver, they are decrypted using the agreed-upon scheme, and their validity is verified using the integrity information. Verification succeeds for real-data packets, and their data are accepted as valid. Verification fails for pseudo-data packets, however, and their data are discarded. An eavesdropper cannot differentiate pseudo-data from real-data and so cannot help but use all of the packets in its analysis. This mingling of pseudo-data with real-data frustrates the eavesdropper's statistical attempt to uncover the agreed-upon encoding scheme.

As computer networks grow larger and carry much more sensitive data, securing that data is becoming increasingly more important. However, a vast majority of networks are vulnerable to security attacks. In one form of attack, an eavesdropper listens to network communications to obtain security information from legitimate network users. With that information in hand, the eavesdropper can access sensitive data sent by the legitimate users. These security attacks are especially worrisome to devices that communicate via wireless technologies, e.g., that use the 802.11 protocol, because it is difficult or impossible to restrict physical access to their communications.
To protect the privacy of data against network attacks, data transmitted over a network are often encrypted. In a typical data encryption method, the sender and the receiver first agree upon a data-encoding scheme. The sender encrypts the data using the agreed-upon encoding scheme and sends the encrypted data to the receiver. Upon reception, the receiver decrypts the data using the agreed-upon encoding scheme. Although the encrypted data may still be eavesdropped, the eavesdropper cannot obtain the original data without knowing the agreed-upon encoding scheme. Thus, data encryption provides security protection for communications between the sender and the receiver.
To ensure that the data have not been corrupted in transit, the sender and receiver also agree upon a data integrity check scheme. The sender attaches data integrity check information (e.g., a checksum) to the data before encryption and transmission. The receiver applies the agreed-upon data integrity check scheme to the received and decrypted data. By comparing the receiver-calculated integrity check with the check sent with the data, the receiver verifies the integrity of the data. If the receiver-calculated integrity check matches the sent integrity check, the receiver accepts the data as valid. Otherwise, the receiver treats the data as invalid and discards them.
However, encryption and data integrity checking are not sufficient protection. Encrypted data are still subject to a number of attacks, for example, to a statistical attack. In a statistical attack, an eavesdropper analyzes a set of encrypted data packets in order to tease out patterns that are associated with the encoding scheme agreed upon by the sender and the receiver. From the patterns, the eavesdropper may discover the encoding scheme and use it to decrypt the encrypted data.
Because of the statistical nature of this method of attack, its accuracy improves with an increasing number of data packets analyzed. Thus one approach to frustrate statistical attacks is to limit the amount of data sent using any one encoding scheme. To do this, the agreed-upon encoding scheme may be changed frequently. However, changing the encoding scheme involves significant communications overhead for the sender and the receiver. What is needed is a way to frustrate statistical attacks without invoking the overhead of changing the agreed-upon encoding scheme.

Methods and systems for frustrating statistical attacks by injecting pseudo data into a data system


A method for evaluating a semiconductor wafer including preparing a reference wafer in which contamination element and amount of contamination are known, forming a plurality of cells including p-n junctions on the reference wafer, measuring junction leakage currents in the plurality of cells on the reference wafer to acquire a distribution of the junction leakage currents of the reference wafer, associating the distribution of the junction leakage currents of the reference wafer with a contamination element, forming a plurality of cells including p-n junctions on a wafer to be measured, measuring junction leakage currents in the plurality of cells on the wafer to be measured to acquire a distribution of the junction leakage currents of the wafer to be measured, and identifying a contamination element of the wafer to be measured based on the association.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for evaluating a semiconductor wafer, and more particularly to a method for evaluating a semiconductor wafer by measuring a junction leakage currents.
2. Description of the Related Art
With miniaturization and advance in performance of a memory, a solid-state image pickup device such as a CCD and the like, to improve product yields, enhancement of quality of a silicon wafer as a material has been demanded, and various kinds of silicon wafers coping with such a demand have been developed. In particular, crystallinity of a wafer surface portion that is considered to directly exert its influence on product characteristics is important and, as countermeasures, 1) a high-temperature treatment that is performed in an atmosphere containing an inert gas or hydrogen, 2) reduction of grown-in defects by improving pulling conditions, and 3) an epitaxial growth wafer or the like are developed.
As a conventional method for evaluating electrical characteristics of silicon wafer surface quality, oxide dielectric breakdown voltage (GOI) evaluation has been used. According to this evaluation, a gate oxide film is formed on a silicon wafer surface by thermal oxidation, electrical stress is applied to a silicon oxide film as an insulator by forming an electrode on the gate oxide film, and silicon surface quality is evaluated based on a degree of insulation. That is, if defects or metal impurities are present on the original silicon wafer surface, they are taken into the silicon oxide film by the thermal oxidation, or an oxide film according to a surface shape is formed, and a non-uniform insulator is produced, thus degrading insulation properties. This is reliability of the gate oxide film of an MOSFET in an actual device, and various wafers have been developed for improvement of the above insulation properties. However, even if the GOI has no problem, a reduction in device yield can naturally happen, but such phenomena often occur in recent years with advance in integration of devices in particular.
Among others, in a solid-state image pickup device, for example, when a reduction in, e.g., dark current and an improvement in sensitivity are considered, reducing a junction leakage current caused due to a wafer leads to a decrease in dark current, which eventually contributes to an improvement in device characteristics. When metal contamination is a main cause in particular, with advance in performance of device in recent years, small amount of metal contamination has exerted an influence. On the other hand, in chemical analysis, although an approach for high sensitivity has enabled detection of various kinds of metals, as matters now stand, it is very difficult to grasp which metal in metallic elements detected by the chemical analysis considerably exerts its influence on an actual device or junction leakage.
As a method for identifying such a contamination metal that exerts its influence on the junction leakage, as described in Patent Literature 1, the contamination metal can be identified from temperature dependence characteristics of junction leakage currents.

Method for evaluating a semiconductor wafer


The invention provides a ball screw apparatus which suppresses abrasion and damage by competition of balls, controls spaces between retaining pieces and balls, and prevents retaining pieces from falling, thereby enabling to more improve operating ability. The retaining pieces are positioned between the balls running in a ball rolling path, such that a sum total of the spaces between the retaining pieces and the balls is 50% or less of an outer diameter size of the retaining piece, and at the same time a contact angle between the retaining piece and the ball is 25° or above to 40° or below.

The present invention relates to a ball screw apparatus, and in particular a technique effective for realizing more improvement of low noises, operationability and endurance.
For example, the ball screw apparatus is, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, composed of a screw shaft 1 having a first spiral screw groove 3 on an outer circumferential face thereof, and a nut 2 having a second screw groove 4 on an inner circumferential face in opposition to the first screw groove 3 defined in the screw shaft 1 and being in mesh with the screw shaft 1 via a plurality of balls 5 rotatably charged in a spiral ball rolling path R defined between the first and second screw grooves 3, 4. The ball rolling path R is provided at its one end with a ball circulating path J for taking up the balls rolling and tracking in the ball rolling path R and sending to the other end. If relatively rotating the screw shaft land the nut 2, and moving one of them in an axial direction, this ball screw apparatus endlessly performs relatively spiral movement between the screw shaft 1 and the nut 2 through rolling of the plural balls 5.
In the ball screw apparatus of such a structure, the ball rolling path R has a face of, for example, Gothic arch, and the ball 5 rolls under an angular contact with the R-face of the ball rolling path at two to four points, while the ball rolling path R spirally continues and by having a return mechanism of the ball circulating path J, change from a non-loaded condition to a loaded condition happens. Since the ball 5 under the loaded condition (called as "loaded ball" hereafter) does not form an ideal rolling condition but creates a spin phenomenon, the ball is easy to cause slip and a ball abrasion occurs. Further, since the adjacent loaded balls 5 contact under a condition of rolling in opposite directions each other, slip is caused between the loaded balls 5. As a result, the loaded balls 5 are prevented from free rolling, and there arise various problems of bad working of the loaded balls 5, creation of abrasion and damage, fluctuation of torque, or occurrence of noises.
Particularly, in the ball screw apparatus effected on and off with high load applied to an injection molding machine or pressing operation, since osculating ellipse is large owing to elastic deformation between the ball 5 and the ball rolling path R, abrasion of the loaded ball is large by spin, and competition of the ball 5 particular to the ball screw apparatus occurs, so that the abrasion and damage appear more remarkably.
For solving these problems, as shown in FIG. 9, such a measure has been broadly practiced where the retaining pieces 10 having recesses 11 at both ends in the ball tracking direction are interposed between the adjacent balls 5 rolling and tracking in the ball rolling path R, and this measure enables to suppresses competition of the balls 5.
However, by interposing the retaining pieces 10, a new problem arises that the retaining piece 10 and the ball 5 compete against each other, so that the retaining pieces 10 are effected with abrasion and damage. Abrasion and damage of the retaining piece 10 create spaces around the retaining piece 10, and a sum total in spaces of the retaining pieces 10 and the balls 5 at an initial period (when setting the retaining piece 10 to the ball screw apparatus) inconveniently grow while using the ball screw apparatus.
Further, if the retaining piece 10 is formed with a resin, depending on sorts of resins (for example, Nylon based resins enabling mass-production by an injection molding at low cost), an expansion phenomenon occurs which absorbs water content and varies dimensions, so that contact points of the adjacent balls 5 are made near inconveniently. As a result, spaces are created around the respective retaining pieces 10, and therefore the sum total of the spaces between the retaining pieces 10 and the balls 5 is larger than that of an early condition.
Herein, when the sum total in spaces of the retaining pieces 10 and the balls 5 increases and the spaces gather to one position, the retaining piece 10 falls as shown in FIG. 10 to probably cause bad working or earlier damage of the ball screw apparatus.
Japanese Patent Laid Open 21018/2001 discloses therefore a measure of interposing elastic materials between the adjacent balls together with the retaining pieces. Depending on this measure, if the ball is effected with high load on and off, it is possible to suppress abrasion and damage acting on the retaining pieces and the balls.
Japanese Patent Laid Open 199556/2000 discloses a measure formed with ruggedness on contacting faces with the balls of the retaining pieces. According to this measure, the retaining pieces and the balls roll while point-contacting, thereby enabling to suppress abrasion and damage of both.
However, in the above Patent Laid Open 21018/2001, if the elastic material placed between the adjacent balls together with the retaining pieces is loaded, spring force of the elastic material acting on the loaded ball is powerless, and inconveniently a space adjusting capacity is not enough. Therefore, depending on space growth owing to abrasion and damage of the retaining piece and the loaded ball, or dimensional change of the retaining pieces by the expansion phenomenon, the retaining piece might fall, and there still remains a room for improvement of maintenance in the sum total of spaces between the retaining pieces and the balls or prevention from falling of the retaining pieces.


A computer-readable medium stores a magnetic substrate simulation program causing a computer to execute a process that includes calculating an effective magnetic field for each area of an element in the magnetic substrate, when magnetization of each area changes and based on a magnetic field generated from magnetic energy in each area and a rate of change of magnetization working in a direction inhibiting change in the average magnetization of the areas; obtaining for each area and based on the calculated effective magnetic fields and magnetization of each area, changes in magnetization and calculating for each area, magnetization after the changes; judging based on magnetization of each area before and after the changes, whether magnetization in the element converges; and storing a combination of the average magnetization of the areas for which magnetization in the given element converges and a static magnetic field based on the average magnetization.

Conventionally, with improvements in computer performance and advances in electromagnetic field analysis methods, the simulation of electrical devices such as motors and generators that use magnetic materials has become widely performed in a variety of settings. Difference methods and finite element methods are typically used as a method of electromagnetic field analysis. Recently, significant emphasis has been placed on the efficiency of electrical devices as a means of reducing CO2 and preventing global warming. Accordingly, there are greater expectations concerning simulation.
With respect to magnetic metal materials used in electrical devices, for example, in the case of magnetic steel sheeting, loss within the magnetic substrate is classified as hysteresis loss (which is a cause of hysteresis in the magnetic substrate), classic eddy current loss from eddy currents occurring at the magnetic substrate, and anomalous eddy current loss. In the case of magnetic materials used in devices driven at high frequencies, e.g., high-resistivity magnetic materials such as ferrite and amorphous powder material, loss within the magnetic material is classified as hysteresis loss and residual loss (i.e., dynamic magnetic loss).
High-resistivity magnetic materials include oxide magnetic materials of which ferrite is a typical example, amorphous powder materials formed of pressure molded magnetic metal powders processed for electrical insulation, magnetic compound materials of a magnetic metal material and an oxide or nitride, etc.
To calculate the efficiency of an electrical device, the loss within the magnetic substrate has to be accurately obtained. Recently, higher frequencies are applied to the magnetic materials used in motors, etc. consequent to advances in driving technology of which inverters are a typical example and electrical devices are driven on conditions that include, for example, harmonic components on the order of kHz.
One method is used by a finite element method as a method of calculating loss (see, for example, Yamazaki, K., et al, "Iron Loss Analysis of IPM Motor Considering Carrier Harmonics", IEEJ Trans. IA, Vol. 125, No. 7, 2005). Hysterisis loss Wh and eddy current loss We when a high frequency magnetic field is applied to a magnetic substrate model are respectively calculated by analysis formulae (1) and (2).
                              W          h                =                              ∑            n                                                                                {                                          ∫                iron                                                                            K                  h                                                                                D                                                              (                      nf                      )                                                        2                                                                  (                                                            B                                              r                        ,                        n                                            2                                        +                                          B                                              θ                        ,                        n                                            2                                                        )                                                                                ⅆ                  v                                                      }                                              (        1        )                                          W          e                =                              ∑            n                                                                                {                                          ∫                iron                                                                            K                  e                                                                                D                                                              (                      nf                      )                                                        2                                                                  (                                                            B                                              r                        ,                        n                                            2                                        +                                          B                                              θ                        ,                        n                                            2                                                        )                                                                                ⅆ                  v                                                      }                                              (        2        )
Where, Kh is a hysterisis loss coefficient determined by the magnetic material; Ke is an eddy current loss coefficient determined by the magnetic material; f represents frequency; D represents the density of the magnetic substrate; Br,n and Bθ,n respectively represent radial direction and rotational direction magnetic flux densities. In this method, the values differ from the values under actual operating conditions of the electrical device and accurate hysterisis loss and anomalous eddy current loss is difficult to calculate.
Although Matsuo, T., et al, in "Representation of minor hysteresis loops of a silicon steel sheet using stop and play models", http://www.sciencedirect.com, Physica B, Volume 372, Issues 1-2, 1 Feb. 2006, pages 25-29 considers calculation of a hysterisis curve for a magnetic substrate by an analysis method called "Stop and Play Models", such calculation has yet to be used in actual analysis.
As a simulation method that deals with the magnetic domain structure and domain walls of a magnetic substrate, the calculation method by micromagnetics recited by William Fuller Brown, Jr. in "Thermal Fluctuations of a Single-Domain Particle", Physical Review, Volume 130, Number 5, 1 Jun. 1963 is known. Matsuo, T., et al in "A Study of Demagnetizing Field in Micromagnetic Simulation under Periodic Boundary Condition", The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, MAG-10-17, SA10-17, RM10-17, January 2010 consider a hysterisis curve by micromagnetics. However, the method is not applied in actual analysis.
In high frequency transducers and high frequency inductors that use high-resistivity magnetic material, loss consequent to the dynamic magnetization process including resonance phenomena and ferromagnetic resonance of domain walls occurs. Although driving on the order of MHz is considered for these devices and for reducing device size/improving efficiency, in order to do this, design that takes into consideration the resonance and ferromagnetic resonance of domain walls is necessary.
FIG. 15 is a graph of actual data indicating the frequency dependency of permeability when magnetic resonance is present (see, for example, Kawano, K, et al, "The grain size effect on the magnetic properties in NiZn ferrite and the quality factor of the inductor"). The imaginary portion μ" of permeability indicates the phase difference of a magnetic field H and a magnetic flux density B, where the greater the imaginary portion μ" is the greater loss is.
Current is difficult to pass through magnetic substrates of a high-resistivity magnetic material, such as ferrite and an amorphous powder material. Meanwhile, according to higher drive frequencies consequent to magnetic resonance such as resonance and ferromagnetic resonance of the domain walls, the loss within the magnetic substrate tends to increase. Therefore, accurate estimation of the loss within the magnetic substrate is an important matter in terms of optimizing the structure and materials of devices. However, with the technologies above, calculation that takes into consideration physical phenomena like magnetic resonance phenomena (such as resonance and ferromagnetic resonance of domain walls) and eddy currents occurring in high-resistivity magnetic material cannot be handled.

Simulation apparatus and simulation method


A method and apparatus for dynamic power limit sharing among the modules in the platform. In one embodiment of the invention, the platform comprises a processor and memory modules. By expanding the power domain to include the processor and the memory modules, dynamic sharing of the power budget of the platform between the processor and the memory modules is enabled. For low-bandwidth workloads, the dynamic sharing of the power budget offers significant opportunity for the processor to increase its frequency by using the headroom in the memory power and vice versa. This enables higher peak performance for the same total platform power budget in one embodiment of the invention.

Traditionally, the power limit to the central processing unit (CPU) has been provided by the platform. With the advent of integrated memory controllers, the CPU or processor controls the power consumption of the memory modules in the platform as well. In a micro-processor based platform, the power consumption of the memory modules in the platform can constitute a significant portion of the total power consumed by the platform.
In many platforms, the processor and the memory modules are treated as separate power domains when the total platform power budget is allocated. When the total platform budget such as platform rating is determined, each domain is set to a realistic maximum value, which is not the worst case scenario. As such, there is a processor power limit that is obeyed by the processor and a memory power limit that is obeyed by the memory modules.
When the memory modules and the processor each have a separate power budget or limit, it limits the performance of the platform or system for low-bandwidth workloads.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Dynamic power limit sharing in a platform