A control method for adjusting the hydrocarbon concentration in an active carbon filter of a tank ventilation device of a motor vehicle, includes the acts of: detecting an operational parameter of the internal combustion engine of the vehicle; determining the hydrocarbon content of a fuel tank gas mixture in the fuel tank ventilation device; and opening the tank ventilation valve of the tank ventilation device for a defined length of time in accordance with the determined hydrocarbon content when the operational parameter of the internal combustion engine displays an overrun mode or a standstill mode of the internal combustion engine generated by a start-stop system.

The present invention relates to a control method for adjusting the hydrocarbon concentration in an active carbon filter of a tank ventilation device of a motor vehicle, including the detection of an operational parameter of the internal combustion engine of the motor vehicle.
Such a control method is known, for instance, from DE 101 31 798 A1, in which is described a regeneration device for regenerating an active carbon filter. The regeneration device is activated when the internal combustion engine is in an overrun mode that is detected by the control method. The so-called loading status of the active carbon filter is determined by way of measured values that are detected on a lambda probe arranged downstream of the internal combustion engine. The loading state of the active carbon filter may thus only be determined using a gas mixture that is flowing downstream of the combustion engine and that is supplied to the exhaust treatment system.
The object of the invention is to provide a control method that permits more precise determination of the loading of the active carbon filter and offers additional options for regenerating the active carbon filter.
For attaining this object, a control method is provided that includes the following acts:
a) determining a hydrocarbon content of a tank gas mixture in the tank ventilation device; and
b) opening a tank ventilation valve of the tank ventilation device for a defined length of time as a function of the determined hydrocarbon content, when the operational parameter of the internal combustion engine indicates an overrun mode or a standstill caused by a start-stop system of the internal combustion engine.
The determination of the hydrocarbon content in the tank ventilation device, which is arranged upstream of the internal combustion engine in terms of flow, permits improved and more precise determination of how strongly the active carbon filter is loaded with hydrocarbons. From this it is also possible to determine more precisely the need for regenerating the active carbon filter. Since the hydrocarbon content in the tank ventilation device is known, the active carbon filter may be regenerated not only during overrun operation of the internal combustion engine, but also during a temporary standstill thereof that is caused by a start-stop system.
In one refinement, the method detects the temperature of an exhaust treatment system of the motor vehicle, wherein the defined length of time the tank ventilation valve is opened is a function of the detected temperature of the exhaust treatment system.
This is intended to include, in particular, the temperature of a catalytic converter arranged downstream of the internal combustion engine. The normal operational temperature of a catalytic converter is about 300° C. to 800° C. The temperature of the catalytic converter is thus a function of the speed and load of the internal combustion engine. At appropriate temperatures in the catalytic converter, the supply to the catalytic converter of hydrocarbons that have not been combusted (or only some of which have been combusted) in the internal combustion engine in overrun mode leads to a subsequent reduction thereof in the exhaust gas flow due to oxidation or reduction.
It is preferred that the hydrocarbon content be determined by use of an HC sensor attached in the area of the tank ventilation device. The HC sensor should be arranged as best as possible such that it may determine a representative hydrocarbon content for the active carbon filter. The HC sensor is preferably disposed in a limited area between active carbon filter and tank ventilation lines that lead to and away therefrom. It is also possible for such an HC sensor to be built into an active carbon filter.
Alternatively, the hydrocarbon content may be determined by at least one characteristic value of a model for the hydrocarbon content in tank gases. Such a model may be embodied, for instance, such that it takes into account different parameters, especially determinant parameters, which affect the outgassing of the liquid fuel. With such a model, it is possible to model the hydrocarbon content of the part of a tank that is not filled with liquid fuel and the ventilation lines connected thereto. From the model, taking into account variables that may be provided by a control unit of the motor vehicle, such as for instance ambient temperature, cooling water temperature, ambient air pressure, downtimes of the combustion engine, values of acceleration sensors in the longitudinal and transverse directions, and fuel temperature, it is possible to estimate or derive values for a hydrocarbon content that is present in the tank ventilation device. It is also possible to take into account in such a model the geometry of the fuel container which, in conjunction with a fill level with liquid fuel, also has an effect on outgassing.
With the method it is further provided that the higher the temperature of the exhaust treatment system, the shorter the defined length of time for opening the tank ventilation valve. Such a control or regulation makes it possible, first of all, for the temperature of the exhaust treatment system to not be substantially changed, in particular to rise only slightly, due to introduced and chemically reacting hydrocarbons. By limiting the time the tank ventilation valve is open, it is possible for the operational temperature of the exhaust treatment system to remain in an optimal range and not rise above a maximum allowed operational temperature or drop below a minimum allowed operational temperature.
Furthermore, with the method, the length of time the tank ventilation valve is open may become shorter the higher is the hydrocarbon content. Because of this, it is possible to prevent too much hydrocarbon, especially non-combusted or only partially combusted hydrocarbon, from traveling into the exhaust system and thereby causing the temperature of the exhaust treatment system to rise too rapidly due to corresponding chemical (catalytic) reactions.
It is furthermore provided that the length of time that the tank ventilation valve is open be between 0.5 and 10 seconds, and that the temperature of the exhaust treatment system during the defined length of time the tank ventilation valve is open be between 300° C. and 800° C. The ranges disclosed here for the length of time the tank ventilation valve is open and for the temperature of the exhaust gas system may also be selected to be different as a function of the specifications and design of a control system for the internal combustion engine and the exhaust treatment system.
With the inventive control method, when the internal combustion engine of the motor vehicle is in overrun mode, when the tank ventilation valve is opened, the gas containing the hydrocarbon is preferably caused to be drawn from the tank ventilation device by a negative pressure that exists relative to the internal combustion engine. This negative pressure is affected by the opening of a throttle valve and the valves on the internal combustion engine. In this context, it is also possible for variably adjustable valves to be provided for the internal combustion engine so that enhanced control of the negative pressure in the intake area of the internal combustion engine may be attained. Using a negative pressure sensor arranged in an intake pipe, it is possible to adjust a more precise negative pressure of, for instance, approximately 100 mbar, in the intake pipe between the throttle valve and the valves during an overrun operation of the internal combustion engine. The tank ventilation valve is then only opened or closed and no additional regulation is required for how much the tank ventilation valve is opened.
Alternatively, if it is determined that the internal combustion engine is in a standstill, a tank gas pump provided in the area of the tank ventilation device may conduct the gas containing hydrocarbon to the internal combustion engine if the tank ventilation valve is opened. Instead of a tank gas pump, it is also possible to provide a compressed air reservoir that stores, for instance, negative or positive pressure from the engine operation and can provide the stored pressure in order to conduct the gas containing hydrocarbon to the internal combustion engine.
For instance, if regeneration of the active carbon filter begins immediately before a start-stop system brings the internal combustion engine to a standstill, then while the engine is at a standstill the negative pressure required for drawing the tank gases out of the tank ventilation device is lacking. However, in order to still make it possible to regenerate, even if the engine is at a standstill, during a certain length of time ventilation gases may be conducted by means of the pump or the compressed air reservoir out of the tank ventilation device into the intake manifold of the internal combustion engine or via the intake manifold through the combustion chamber into the exhaust system for a follow-on reaction. At least some of the tank ventilation gases that were introduced that remain in the intake pipe are then combusted during further operation of the internal combustion engine, in addition to an amount of fuel added (injected) into the cylinder.
For attaining the object cited in the foregoing, further provided is a motor vehicle comprising:
an internal combustion engine having at least one combustion chamber, an intake area supplying combustion air to at least one combustion chamber, and an exhaust area that draws off exhaust gasses from at least one combustion chamber;
an exhaust treatment system connected to the exhaust area of the internal combustion engine;
a tank ventilation device that opens into the intake area of the internal combustion engine and that is closed to the intake area using a tank ventilation valve; and
a control unit for controlling the combustion engine and the exhaust treatment system, wherein the control unit is embodied to control the opening of the tank ventilation valve for a defined length of time in accordance with the described control method.
In one refinement, the motor vehicle may include a sensor, especially an HC sensor, arranged in the area of the tank ventilation device and/or the control unit which may be embodied to store characteristic values of a model of the hydrocarbon content and to control the length of time the tank ventilation valve is open, taking these characteristic values into consideration.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Control method for adjusting the hydrocarbon concentration in an active carbon filter of a motor vehicle

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


The synchronization system uses a TDMA or AMPS air interface to provide timing synchronization between previously unsynchronized base stations. The synchronization of base stations is critical between when determining the geographical position of a mobile because the geographical position is determined using a time difference of arrival method. In order to synchronize a remote base station with a serving base station, the remote base station receives a signal from the serving base station and measuring the receiving time of the signal at the remote base station in relation to the clock of the remote base station. The synchronization system determines the transmission time of the signal based on the reception time of the signal and the distance between the base stations, in relation to the clock signal of the second station, and synchronizes the clock of the remote base station to the clock of the serving base station based on the offset in the clock cycles at the time the signal was transmitted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for communicating between base stations and mobiles to provide an accurate timing source between unsynchronized base stations and more particularly to a method for communicating between base stations and mobiles to provide an accurate timing source between unsynchronized base stations in a wireless TDMA or AMPS system.
2. Description of Related Art
The increased popularity of wireless telephony including cellular, enhanced specialized mobile radio (ESMR) and personal communication services (PCS), has resulted in a surge in wireless calls to 911. Public safety agencies strive to provide the same level of service to cellular callers as for land line callers, but they are hampered by significant technological diversity. Enhanced 911 systems were designed and constructed to support land lines telephones. Land lines telephones are connected via fixed wires back to Telco Central Offices (TCOs), and thus there is a permanent relationship between the telephone and its location. When someone places a 911 call from a land line telephone, the location of the phone is used to determine the closest police, fire, medical agency and public safety answering point (PSAP). Having this detailed operation at the operator""s fingertips enables the rapid response for which 911 systems are known.
However, wireless callers are not associated with any location, which is why they are so popular. This benefits works against a wireless telephone or mobile use that requires emergency assistance. When a caller""s geographic location is unknown, an operator must spend valuable time at the start of the call obtaining basic information about the location and area police, fire, medical agencies and PSAPs before fully understanding the nature of the emergency. Therefore, a quick determination of a caller""s location can be crucial for a person""s safety.
Wireless telephone base stations with mobile location systems are being considered to determine the geolocation of a mobile. Since the advent of radar, high accuracy location systems have used time difference of arrival (TDOA) methods as a preferred technology for location determination. In fact, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is a TDOA based system as are most of the systems proposed for the location and monitoring service being allocated by the FCC. TDOA systems operate by placing location receivers at multiple base stations geographically disbursed in a wide area. When a signal is transmitted from a mobile, the signal propagates at approximately a thousand feet per second to local base stations, where the signal reception is time stamped. The differences in time stamps are then compared using well known triangulation methods to produce intersecting hyperbolic lines from which the location is estimated.
However, TDOA methods require the base stations used in the triangulation methods to be accurately aligned in time. In other words, the base stations must be synchronized. Currently in TDMA and AMPS wireless systems, external equipment must be added to all of the individual base stations to provide the required timing accuracy and synchronization.
CDMA is a very different technology than TDMA or AMPS. CDMA has an N=1 frequency reuse plan where the same frequency spectrum is used by neighbor cells (to increase capacity). The synchronization of CDMA cells allows digitally coded voice data to be seamlessly handed off to a neighbor cell. TDMA has an N=7 frequency reuse plan and the individual 30 kHz frequency channels are not reused by adjacent cells but reused by cells far enough away to minimize co-channel interference.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method to provide timing synchronization between base stations in TDMA and AMPS systems without the implementation of expensive external equipment.
The present invention improves upon conventional TDMA and AMPS systems by providing an approach to use a TDMA/AMPS air interface to provide timing synchronization between unsynchronized base stations. This is accomplished in a preferred embodiment by marking time stamps of signals arriving at predetermined or candidate base stations from a serving base station. The time stamps are marked in relation to a clock signal of the respective candidate base station. The respective candidate base station becomes synchronized with the serving base station based on a down link offset calculated at each candidate base station that represents the fractional symbol time, relative to the internal symbol clock of the respective candidate base station, between the time the signal is transmitted from the serving base station to a next predetermined cyclical point of the symbol clock of the candidate base station. The predetermined cyclical point may be, for example, at the beginning of the next cycle when clock goes high. The respective candidate base station determines the time the signal was transmitted based on the time the signal is received at the candidate base station and the known time required for the signal to travel from the serving base station to the candidate base station.
Since the serving base station transmits the signal at a known point of its symbol clock cycle, for example the beginning of a clock cycle, the candidate base station can synchronize its internal symbol clock to the internal symbol clock of the serving base station. The synchronization is established by aligning the calculated down link symbol offset to correspond to the signal transmission time at the serving base station.
Although the internal symbol clocks of the base stations are not synchronized, they do operate at the same frequency based on the accurate and conventional T1 link clock. In other words, each clock operates at a frequency of about 1.544 MHz plus or minus 75 Hz. Accordingly, base station symbol clocks maintain approximately the same relationship in alignment to other base station symbol clocks. Therefore, two base stations that are in sync will remain synchronized for subsequent communication. When base stations are in sync, it is possible to perform operations that require synchronized stations, such as TDOA information used for determining the location of a mobile. Therefore, this invention provides a method for synchronizing base stations such that a mobile""s location can be determined using conventional TDOA methods.
Determining a mobile""s position provides a greater benefit than the application of emergency management from 911 calls. Other applications, such as fraud management, location sensitive billing, vehicle and fleet management, inventory/package monitoring, and wireless system design would also become available to TDMA and AMPS systems without severe hardware implementation costs.
In a preferred embodiment, the synchronization system is a software implementation on a computer used to determine the geographic location of the mobile. The software implementation receives a time stamp of receipt of a first signal transmitted from the serving base station to a candidate base station. The time stamp is measured in relation to the symbol clock of the candidate base station. The synchronization system determines the time the signal was transmitted from the serving base station, as a transmission time stamp, based on the receiving time stamp of the signal and the known distance between the serving base station and candidate base station. This transmission time stamp is measured in relation to the symbol clock of the candidate base station. The synchronization system then synchronizes the symbol clock of the candidate base station to the symbol clock of the serving base station by aligning the determined transmission time stamp of the signal to the known point of the serving base station symbol clock cycle that represents the actual transmission time stamp from the serving base station.

Providing an accurate timing source for locating the geographical position of a mobile


Provided herein are compounds useful for modulating the activity of an androgen receptor, or a variant thereof, and related compositions and methods. Compounds of the invention are useful for antagonizing the androgen receptor splice variant AR-v7, and for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality of men in the United States according to the American Cancer Society.(1) A contributing factor is that tumors develop resistance to current treatments especially in therapies that involve targeting the androgen receptor (AR). Treatments generally rely upon continual androgen deprivation therapy via direct AR antagonism (enzalutimde, bicalutamide) or decrease in adrenal androgen production (abiraterone acetate). However, acquired resistance to these treatments potentially leads to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and an overall death rate of 1 in 38 men diagnosed with prostate cancer.(2, 3) Studies of CRPC demonstrated that despite low levels of circulating androgens, AR-mediated gene expression is often maintained by AR splice variants (AR-vs) that do not rely on androgen signaling.(4) Due to variations in their C-terminus, these AR-vs are commonly constitutively active and effectively mimic full-length AR (AR-FL) in their ability to transactivate androgen response elements (ARE) without androgen stimulation.(5) There are currently no FDA-approved drugs that target AR-vs leaving patients with CRPC with little or no option for treatment.
The full-length androgen receptor (AR-FL) is a steroid receptor transcription factor composed of an N-terminal domain (NTD), a DNA binding domain (DBD), and a C-terminal domain (CTD) consisting of a hinge region and a ligand binding domain (LBD).(6) In order for AR-FL to translocate to the nucleus for gene expression, androgens bind to the LBD inducing a structural change that exposes the nuclear localization signal (NLS) thereby initiating importation into the nucleus. Drugs such as enzalutamide target the LBD and thus, prevent nuclear translocation and AR-mediated gene expression. However, AR-vs arise from alternative splicing of the AR gene by insertion of "intronic" cryptic exons downstream of exons encoding the DNA-binding domain, thereby preventing ligand binding domain (LBD) incorporation.(7-9) Unfortunately, AR-vs have a basal level of nuclear localization and remain capable of transcriptional activity, even with the loss of the LBD.(10) This loss of LBD, in turn, provides a resistance pathway for current drug regimens.
Of the 15 known AR-v isoforms, AR-v7 is the most widely identified and clinically important variant in prostate cancer.(11) It is characterized by an unperturbed NTD and DBD with a portion of the NLS and a unique 16-amino acid sequence in its CTD derived from a cryptic exon incorporation.(7, 8) AR-v7 is constitutively active in the absence of androgens, can form homodimers and heterodimers with AR-FL promoting canonical AR-mediated gene expression, and also supports an expression profile unique to that of AR-FL, which includes prostate cancer relevant oncogene AKT1.(8, 12, 13) According to Haber and co-workers who conducted single-cell RNA-seq analysis on circulating tumor cells (CTCs), approximately 43% of CTCs (73 cells) from 11 patients with CRPC expressed at least one type of AR splice variant.(14) Eight out of 11 patients expressed AR-v7, and 8 out of 11 also expressed ARv567es (AR-v12).(14) Another recent study by Dai, Ye, and coworkers, demonstrated a significantly higher rate of AR-v7 expression in primary tumor cells derived from metastatic prostate cancer and CRPC patients over patients with localized prostate cancer.(15) As a result, they directly correlated higher AR-v7 expression to shorter survival likelihood in CRPC (p<0.001). AR-v7 is a clear avenue for resistance and CRPC persistence.
AR-v7 expression is an identified resistance pathway for continual AR-mediated gene expression that is commonly found in metastatic prostate cancer. Currently, there are no therapeutics specifically targeting AR-v7, thus leaving patients who present AR-v7 in CRPC with little or no options for treatment. Current androgen deprivation therapies rely on drugs such as abiraterone acetate or enzalutamide that either target the LBD of AR directly or alter adrenal androgen production. Because the majority of functional splice variants lack the ligand binding domain and are constitutively active, these frontline medications are rendered useless.
Due to the importance of AR-v7 in CRPC and metastatic CRPC, there remains a need for small molecules capable of binding AR-v7.

Small molecule modulators of the androgen receptor


A weight-adjustable dumbbell includes a dumbbell shell unit, a weight unit, and an insert pin unit. The dumbbell shell unit includes a shell body confining a receiving space, and a weight selector rod connected to the shell body, extending into the receiving space, and formed with through holes registered with insert holes in the shell body. The weight unit is extended removably into the receiving space via an open bottom of the shell body, and includes a base member provided with two positioning posts, and weight pieces stacked on the base member. Each weight piece is formed with a rod hole for extension of the weight selector rod, and two post holes for extension of the positioning posts. The insert pin unit includes an insert pin inserted removably into a selected insert hole and extending removably through a corresponding through hole in the weight selector rod.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dumbbell, more particularly to a weight-adjustable dumbbell.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional weight-adjustable dumbbell 20 is shown to include a plurality of weight pieces 21, a handle 22 disposed above the weight pieces 21, a base plate 23 disposed below the weight pieces 21, a fastener 24, and a plurality of spacers 25. Each of the weight pieces 21 has a predetermined weight and is formed with a central hole 211. The handle 22 includes a grip portion 221 and a weight-coupling portion 222 connected to the grip portion 221. The weight-coupling portion 222 extends through the central holes 211 in the weight pieces 21, and is fastened to the base plate 23 via the fastener 24 that engages a screw hole 223 in the weight-coupling portion 222, thus securing the weight pieces 21 between the handle 22 and the base plate 23. To adjust the weight of the dumbbell 20, the fastener 24 must be loosened before replacement of the weight pieces 21 can be conducted. The weight-adjusting operation is thus inconvenient and time-consuming.


A sever configured to execute communication with a printer may include a controller. The controller may be configured to: in a case where a first predetermined condition is satisfied, execute a first delivering process for delivering a new first consumable article to a user of the printer; and in a case where the first delivering process is executed, send an initialization instruction to the printer, wherein the initialization instruction is a command instructing the printer to initialize first count information, wherein the first count information is stored in the printer and related to a used amount of a first consumable article.

A system including a central management device and a multi-function device is known. In this system, a replacement worksheet is used. The replacement worksheet includes checkboxes for respective components that require replacement in a printer. A worker checks the checkboxes corresponding to replaced components and causes the multi-function device to read the replacement worksheet. The multi-function device determines whether each checkbox is checked or not and sends information indicating the determination result to the central management device. Based on this information, the central management device sends a signal for resetting counters corresponding to the replaced components to the printer.

Server, non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing computer-readable instructions for server, method performed by server, and printer


A corrugated sheet comprising:. 50-90% by weight of recycled polyethylene terephthalate; PA1 5-20% by weight of a rubber; PA1 10-45% by weight of an inert filler;. and having a crystallinity gradient such that said shaped sheet maintains the shape, under its own weight, up to a temperature of at least 70.degree. C. and has impact strength which is substantially greater compared to that of the fully crystallized shaped sheet.

It is known that polyethylene terephthalate (PET) now constitutes the plastic material of choice for producing containers for drinks due to the fact that it does not release potentially toxic substances into the contents.
It is also known that current regulations do not allow the abovementioned containers to be reused.
Therefore large quantities of disposable PET containers are being accumulated.
In this description and the subsequent claims, the PET of the aforementioned disposable containers is indicated by the terra "recycled PET".
The Italian Patent Application No. M191 A 002949 filed on Nov. 6, 1991 pointed out the uneconomical nature of the methods proposed to date for disposing of the abovementioned containers (incineration or depolymerisation and recovery of the monomers) and proposed recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by extruding it into shaped sheets for building.
In particular, the abovementioned application proposed washing PET containers, crushing them and drying them thoroughly up to a moisture content of from 20 to 50 ppm. The resulting material was then crystallized, mixed with an inert mineral filler and extruded in flat sheets finally, the latter could be shaped in the form of corrugated sheets or other profiles, for example fretted, by conventional machines and techniques,
The shaped sheets obtained in this way were however found to be highly crystallized, with poor elasticity and low impact strength, a sheet with thickness of 3 mm breaking on the impact of a cylindrical striking mass, with spherical head and weighing 2 kg, from a height of only 0.2 m.
The Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 92,536/83 describes a biaxially-oriented plastic bottle comprising a bottom portion, a body portion, a shoulder portion and a neck portion formed by biaxially-oriented blow molding a parison of virgin polyethylene terephthalate, wherein said neck portion has a highly crystallized outer surface layer with density of no less than 1.36 g/cc, and a less crystallized inner surface layer with density of no more than 1.35 g/cc.
In order to achieve such crystallization the outer surface of the neck portion is heated at 180.degree. C. for 30 seconds to 1 minute white the inner neck portion is maintained at a lower temperature.
However, when this procedure was utilized to manufacture a shaped sheet made from a blend of recycled PET and an inert mineral filler, unsatisfactory results were obtained (see Comparative Example 1).

Corrugated sheet having a crystallinity gradient


A system is provided with a set of removable battery packs and a set of power tools each including a motor, a controller, and a battery receiving portion. For each power tool, the controller is configured to identify a type of battery pack coupled to the battery receiving portion and limit a maximum amount of electric current drawn from the battery pack by the motor based on the identified type of the battery pack. The greater a ratio of an impedance of the motor to an impedance of the battery pack, the less the controller limits the maximum amount of electric current drawn from the battery pack such that for a given battery pack of the set of removable battery packs, the lower the impedance of the motor, the more current the motor draws from the given battery pack.

Cordless power tools may be operated using a removable and rechargeable battery pack. The battery pack typically includes a series of lithium-based battery cells electrically connected in series to provide a total rated voltage greater than the rated voltage of individual battery cells. In an example, a string of five battery cells may be connected in series to provide the battery pack with a rated (maximum) voltage of approximately 20V and a nominal voltage of approximately 18V. The strings of battery cells may be connected in parallel to provide a rated capacity greater than the rated capacity of individual battery cells. Battery cell capacity is a measure (typically in Ampere-hours) of the charge stored in the battery cell and represents the maximum amount of energy that can be extracted from the battery cell. In an example, two strings of 3 A.h. cells may be connected in parallel inside the battery pack to provide the battery pack with a rated capacity of 6 A.h.
Battery packs having different rated capacities may be provided for powering a variety of power tools having different performance and power characteristics. Conventionally, a power tool designed to operate with a low capacity battery pack has often been deemed unsuitable and inefficient for use with a high capacity battery pack as it does not utilize the full power capability of the battery pack. Similarly, a power tool designed to operate with a high capacity battery pack is deemed unsuitable for use with a low capacity battery pack as its high current draw is incompatible with and potentially harmful to the battery pack. What is needed is a system for controlling and configuration the power tools in a way to allow utilization of battery packs having different rated capacities with a wide range of power tools having different power and performance characteristics with optimal efficiency.

Power tool receiving different capacity battery packs


An actuator for a hydraulic valve of a cam phaser, the actuator including a magnet housing receiving a magnetized metal sleeve and a coil that is radially enveloped by the magnetized metal sleeve generating a magnetic field, wherein the coil is fixated in a non-magnetizable coil carrier that is positioned in a cavity of the magnet housing, wherein the coil carrier at least partially envelops a pole core and a pole core yoke that is axially offset from the pole core, wherein the pole core and a pole core yoke are positioned so that they radially define a non-magnetic sleeve, wherein the non-magnetic sleeve forms a divider wall between the cavity of the magnet housing and an inner cavity of the non-magnetic sleeve.

Hydraulic valves for cam phasers are well known in the art. The hydraulic valves include a valve piston which is axially moveable in a valve housing of the hydraulic valve. Typically a first operating connection, a second operating connection and a supply connection are configured at the valve housing. The first operating connection and the second operating connection are connected with the cam phaser and a hydraulic fluid is feedable through these connections into the hydraulic valve and also out of the hydraulic valve. In order to supply the hydraulic valve with the hydraulic fluid fed by a feed device the valve housing includes the supply connection. The hydraulic fluid can flow through the hydraulic valve in different directions using a flowable channel system of the valve piston.
The valve piston is moved using an electromagnetic actuator. Thus the actuator includes a generally axially moveable plunger which is operatively connected with the valve piston. An axial movement of the plunger is transferred to the valve piston so that the valve piston changes its position within the hydraulic valve.
Since the hydraulic valve is flowed through by a hydraulic fluid, typically a hydraulic oil, the actuator has to be securely sealed relative to the hydraulic valve so that so that in particular a coil of the electromagnetic actuator is sealed against penetration of the hydraulic fluid.
Furthermore the coil has to be protected against a penetration of hydraulic fluid which is disposed in the actuator itself. This hydraulic valve is provided for moving an armature that is operatively connected to the plunger since the armature is moveably received in the actuator to provide axial movement to the plunger.
The publication document US 2006/0071560 A1 discloses an actuator which includes a sleeve for separating the coil from the hydraulic fluid that is necessary for moving the armature, wherein the armature is received axially moveable in an interior of the sleeve. The sleeve defines an interior of the sleeve relative to the cavity of the actuator, wherein the cavity is mostly defined by a coil carrier and a pole yoke. A pole core insert that is at least partially received in an interior of the sleeve closes the interior relative to a hydraulic valve which is arrangeable opposite to the pole core insert, so that the plunger of the actuator can move a valve piston of the hydraulic valve. The cavity is defined by a lip of the sleeve relative to a hydraulic fluid of the actuator, wherein the lip is configured as a lip disc that is provided with steps.
The printed document DE 10 2006 011 078 A1 discloses an actuator configured as a lift magnet which includes an armature with a plunger, wherein the plunger is arranged axially moveable within an interior of a sleeve. A pole core insert is at least partially received in the interior. The sleeve includes a coil carrier for receiving the coil that is to be loaded with a voltage. The pole core insert closes the interior of the sleeve relative to the switching valve that is arrangeable opposite to the pole core insert. At an end of the sleeve that is configured oriented towards the pole core insert a lip of the sleeve configured as a lip disc is arranged which is positioned between the coil carrier and a conical disc supporting the pole core insert, wherein the lip closes a cavity of the actuator relative to the hydraulic fluid of the actuator wherein the cavity is largely formed by the coil carrier.
An actuator for a hydraulic valve which includes a cylindrical sleeve can be derived from the patent document DE 10 2009 043 320 B4. The actuator is configured for a hydraulic valve of a cam phaser with a magnet housing which is used for receiving a magnetized metal sleeve or a magnet. The metal sleeve envelops a coil radially which is configured for generating a magnetic field. The coil is received non moveable in a non-magnetizable coil carrier that is positioned in the magnet housing. A non-magnetize able sleeve forms a divider wall between an interior cavity of the sleeve and a pole core and a pole core yoke that is axially offset from the pole core, which are at least partially enveloped by the pole carrier and arranged in a cavity of the magnet housing. In the sleeve an axially moveable armature and a plunger operatively connected with the armature are arranged for positioning a valve piston of the hydraulic valve. The sleeve closes the interior relative to the cavity using a disc shaped lip configured at the sleeve at an end oriented towards the hydraulic valve. A pole core insert mostly received in the interior closes the interior relative to the hydraulic valve, wherein a seal element is arranged between the lip and the hydraulic valve.

Actuator for hydraulic valve of cam phaser and hydraulic valve with actuator for cam phaser


The present invention provides a current mirror circuit of which consistency (ratio) of the input current and output current is more improved. This current mirror circuit comprises input side and output side bi-polar transistors of which bases are commonly connected, an input side MOS transistor of which source is connected to a collector of the input side bi-polar transistor and of which drain and gate are connected to the input terminal, output side MOS transistors of which source is connected to the collectors of the output side bi-polar transistors, of which drain is connected to the output terminals, and of which gate is connected to the gate of the input side MOS transistor, and an MOS transistor for supplying base current of which source is connected to the bases of the input side and output side bi-polar transistors, and of which gate is connected to the gate of the input side MOS transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a current mirror circuit, more particularly to a current mirror circuit suitable for constructing a current mirror circuit using a Bi-CMOS process, which allows mounting CMOS transistors and bi-polar (BIP) transistors on a same semiconductor integrated circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A current mirror circuit, which is constructed using a bi-polar (BIP) process, has been widely used for electronic circuits to implement various functions, since the output current, which is in proportion to the input current at a predetermined ratio, can be acquired in a small area at high precision. FIG. 5 shows an example of a current mirror circuit (e.g. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H06-112740). This current mirror circuit 101, where the input current I0 is input to an input terminal IN, and the output currents I1 and I2 are output to two output terminals, OUT1 and OUT2, is comprised of four NPN type BIP transistors. Specifically, for both the input side BIP transistor 110, of which collector is connected to the input terminal IN, and the output side BIP transistors 111 and 112, of which collectors are connected to the two output terminals OUT1 and OUT2, the respective emitter is grounded and a base is commonly connected. For the BIP transistor for supplying base current 113, of which the collector is connected to the power supply VCC, the emitter is connected to the base of the input side and the output side BIP transistors 110, 111 and 112, and the base is connected to the input terminal IN. In this case, the sizes of the output side BIP transistors 111 and 112 are set to be a predetermined scale factor respectively compared with the input side BIP transistor 110, so that the required output currents I1 and I2 can be acquired respectively. In this current mirror circuit 101, current branching from the input current I0 becomes the base current of the BIP transistor for supplying base current 113, and current, when this base current is amplified with the emitter ground amplification factor (hFE), becomes the total current IB of the base currents IB0, IB1 and IB2 of the input side and output side BIP transistors 110, 111 and 112. Therefore current branching from the input current I0, for the base current of the input side and output side BIP transistors 110, 111 and 112, can be small, which can decrease errors in the consistency (ratio) of the input current I0 and the output currents I1 and I2.
FIG. 6 shows an example of another current mirror circuit (e.g. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H07-231229). In the current mirror circuit 102, just like the above mentioned prior art, emitters of the input side and output side BIP transistors 110, 111 and 112 are all grounded and the bases thereof are commonly connected. Each of these bases, in this case, is connected to the collector of the output side BIP transistor 111. And the emitters of the input side and output side BIP transistors 114, 115 and 116 are connected to the collectors of the BIP transistors 110, 111 and 112 respectively, and collectors thereof are connected to the input terminal IN and the output terminals OUT1 and OUT2 respectively, and the bases are commonly connected and are also connected to the input terminal IN. This current mirror circuit 102 can fix the collectors of the BIP transistors 110, 111 and 112 to roughly the same potential (that is base potentials of these). The influence of the dependency of the BIP transistors 110, 111 and 112 on the collector potential, that is the influence of Early effect, can be controlled, which can decrease the errors in consistency (ratio) of the input current I0 and output currents I1 and I2.


The output signals of the logic regions in a programmable logic integrated circuit device are programmably connectable to output bus conductors. Each such output signal can be applied to any of several of these conductors, and each conductor can receive any of several output signals. Each output bus conductor is connectable to one or more output drivers (e.g., through a programmable connector it shares with another output bus conductor). The output drivers can drive more general interconnection resources of the device. This device architecture increases logic region output signal routing flexibility and/or allows the number of output drivers to be decreased (i.e., by making more efficient use of the output drivers that are provided).

This invention relates to programmable logic integrated circuit devices, and more particularly to the signal routing resources in such devices.
Programmable logic integrated circuit devices are well known as is shown, for example, by Pedersen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,610 and Cliff et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,611, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. Such devices typically include a large number of regions of programmable logic. Each logic region is programmable to produce an output signal which is any one of a number of relatively elementary logic functions of several input signals applied to the logic region. The logic regions are typically disposed on the device in a plurality of intersecting rows and columns of such regions. Interconnection conductors are provided along the rows and columns for conveying signals to, from, and between the logic regions. For example, horizontal conductors may be associated with each row of regions for conveying signals along the associated row. Vertical conductors may be associated with each column of regions for conveying signals along the associated column. Programmable logic connectors ("PLCs") are provided for programmably connecting (1) selected adjacent interconnection conductors to the inputs of each logic region, (2) the output of each logic region to selected interconnection conductors adjacent to the logic region, and (3) selected interconnection conductors to one another (e.g., connecting selected horizontal conductors to selected vertical conductors). In this way any number of the logic regions can be concatenated to perform very complex logic functions.
Because of the large number of logic regions provided in a typical programmable logic device, it is not practical or economical to provide completely universal interconnection conductor resources on the device. Such universal resources would allow any interconnection to be made to, from, or between logic regions regardless of what other interconnections had been made. An excessive fraction of the overall resources of the device would have to be devoted to interconnection resources if such complete universality were provided, and large amounts of such universal resources would be unused in most (if not substantially all) cases. It is therefore important to devise less than completely general interconnection structures that are highly efficient (in the sense that they take up a significantly-reduced fraction of the overall resources of the device) but still afford a high degree of interconnectivity and signal routing flexibility. Because programmable logic devices are general-purpose devices, it is desirable to construct them so that they have the widest possible applicability (consistent with other objectives such as desired size, speed, power consumption, cost, etc.). Efficient interconnection structures are very important to achieving all of these objectives.
Among the important components of typical programmable logic device interconnection structures are driver circuits. Such driver circuits may be used to apply the output signal of each logic region to the horizontal and/or vertical interconnection conductors associated with that region. A driver circuit is needed to make sure that the logic region output signal is strong enough to drive the conductor to which it is applied, as well as the further circuitry that receives the signal from that conductor. The necessary driver circuits therefore tend to be relatively large and power-consuming. They may also need to be programmable and/or tri-statable, and to therefore be accompanied by auxiliary circuitry such as programmable memory cells. It is accordingly desirable to try to reduce the required number of driver circuits and/or to make better use of the driver circuits that are provided.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide improved programmable logic devices.
It is a more particular object of this invention to provide improved interconnection resource structures for programmable logic devices.
It is a still more particular object of this invention to make better use of the driver circuits that are provided in the interconnection resources of programmable logic circuits, possibly allowing the number of such circuits to be reduced without sacrificing signal routing flexibility and/or allowing increased signal routing flexibility with a given number of driver circuits.

Routing in programmable logic devices using shared distributed programmable logic connectors


This invention relates to a facade plate, method of assembly, assembled heat exchanger, and kit of parts therefor. The facade plate is adapted for securement to at least part of the tube plate of a heat exchanger, the facade plate having apertures conforming to openings in the said part of the tube plate, the facade plate being of a plastic material. The method of mounting the facade plate to the tube plate includes the steps of {i} securing a locking member within the end of each one of many or all of the heat exchanger tubes; {ii} placing the facade plate against the tube plate with the apertures aligned with respective tube plate openings; {iii} selecting a set of tubular inserts which have a part adapted for engagement with a locking member; {iv} passing a respective tubular insert through all or many of the apertures and into the corresponding tube so that the said part engages the locking member. The kit of parts for the repair or refurbishment of a heat exchanger comprises {i} a set of locking members for securement to respective tubes, {ii} a facade plate as herein defined, and {iii} a set of tubular inserts, each having a part adapted for engagement with a locking member.

Often it is necessary to cool a working fluid, and it is known for this purpose to use a heat exchanger. Whilst heat exchangers can be of different sizes, the invention is likely to find its greatest utility for the larger sizes of heat exchanger such as those used in power generation plants, land and marine; such plants use a relatively large volume flow and/or speed flow of a liquid coolant.
Heat exchangers usually comprise one or more metallic tubes (typically between 100 and 9000 tubes) suspended between two tube plates, though it is also known to use U-shaped tubes with each tube connected at opposite ends to a single tube plate. Typically, the coolant flows through the tubes, whilst the working fluid passes around and between these tubes and so gives up latent heat (by way of the tubes) to the coolant flowing within the tubes. Each tube may carry external fins (mechanically coupled to or integral with the respective tube) to increase the available surface area for heat transfer, but often the heat exchanger designer will prefer to use the available space to fit a greater number (array) of unfinned tubes, despite the probable cost increase, particularly if the expected operating conditions increase the likelihood of individual tube failure.
Since the working fluid is typically at a higher pressure than that of the coolant, tube failure will result in leakage of the working fluid into the coolant. It is usually uneconomic to treat the coolant to recover the working fluid, and so until the respective tube (when identified) can be replaced it is traditionally taken out of service (with a reduction in heat exchanger capacity). In the interim, escaping working fluid (e.g. oil at 14 kg/sq.cm) may have been discharged with used coolant (e.g. sea water at 2 kg/sq.cm), leading to possible environmental complaints as well as increased heat exchanger operating costs.
Recognised heat exchanger problems are the thinning of a tube wall, particularly adjacent the tube ends, and the pitting or pock-marking of the tube plate(s) around a tube connection position. These problems frequently arise within the tube, or coolant system, in that the coolant can "attack" both at the ends of a tube ("tube" erosion and/or corrosion), and at the tube plate area surrounding the tube ends ("tube to tube plate" erosion and/or corrosion).
Erosion is a common problem in heat exchangers utilising water as a coolant, usually caused by the velocity of flow of the coolant water, especially adjacent the ends of the tube, and over the first few centimeters inside of the tube where the flow may be turbulent. Corrosion can be caused by chemical constituents in the coolant, especially noted for example when the coolant is sea water, used in a heat exchanger for a ship or for a power station located adjacent a tidal estuary.
Thus, these effects singly or together can cause the "as new" tube and tube plate of FIG. 2 to degenerate to the condition of FIG. 3, leading to tube degeneration or failure and leakage of the working fluid into the coolant.
In addition to the erosion shown in FIG. 3, and particularly if the coolant is sea water, there is often localised pitting of the tube plate around the tube end, caused particularly by chemical attack.

Facade plate, method of assembly, assembled heat exchanger and kits part therefor


There is disclosed a steel pipe pile with spiral blades which is capable of effectively improving comparatively soft ground in which a clay layer and the like are present at deep positions of several ten meters beneath the surface of the ground. A steel pipe pile 1 with spiral blades comprises a steel pipe pile main body 10 and one or more spiral blades 20 attached to the steel pipe pile main body 10, and a diameter D of the spiral blade 20 is set to three times or more as large as a diameter d of the steel pipe pile main body 10.

At present, a large variety of methods of constructing composite piles to improve ground have been suggested and put to practical use. For example, there has been suggested a technology in which the ground and slurry are mechanically stirred and mixed by a stirring mixing device while injecting the slurry including cement as a main component into the ground, to construct a soil cement column body. Furthermore, a steel pipe pile with spiral blades is twisted and inserted into the soil cement column body prior to curing, and integrated with the column body, thereby constructing the composite pile (e.g., see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Steel pipe pile with spiral blades, composite pile, and construction method of composite pile

ASAHI KASEI CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS CORPORATION


Embodiments of the present invention are directed to devices, systems, and methods for implementing drills and providing coaching instructions to users. Embodiments may load a drill, measure values obtained from one or more sensors installed on a player's tennis racket and/or worn on the player's body, and use those values to detect various parameters, such as the physical impact of a ball at the player's racket. Embodiments may then output a coaching instruction to the user. Embodiments may also include adding customized coaching instructions to a drill.

It is well known in the sporting world that athletes are often intensely interested in improving their performance in a given sport. This observation is true for all levels of athletes, but it may be especially true for novice athletes who are just learning a new sport or a new skill. Some athletes learn new skills by trial and error. Other athletes receive the benefit of a trainer or instructor. Regardless of which learning process is employed, most athletes tend to go through three stages of motor skill acquisition when they are learning or improving their skills: a cognitive stage, an associative stage, and an autonomous stage.
In the cognitive stage, an athlete begins to acquire information about how to perform a new skill. The focus of the cognitive stage is the development of a mental model of movement. The athlete receives and processes new information relating to a skill and then processes that information in an attempt to cognitively understand the essential requirements and parameters of motor coordination. The cognitive stage is characterized by large gains in performance, but the performance is typically inconsistent. To improve performance consistency at this stage, techniques such as slow-motion drills, video analysis, and augmented feedback can be highly effective. It is especially important that the athlete be provided with the necessary information, guidance, and time to establish sound fundamentals of movement through cognitive processes.
In the associative stage, the learning process becomes less cognitive and more physical, as an athlete attempts to apply what he/she has learned. Here, the athlete attempts to translate cognitive knowledge into procedural knowledge. In other words, the athlete tries to transform his/her understanding about what to do into the motor knowledge of how to do it. Accordingly, there is less emphasis on processing new information at the associative stage. Instead, the athlete uses conscious processing, combined with performance feedback, to obtain better motor control. The athlete may also work at making small adjustments to various movements and stringing together short sequences of smaller movements.
In the final autonomous stage of motor acquisition, typically after years of training, physical performance can become largely automatic. Cognitive processing demands are greatly reduced, and athletes can be capable of attending to and processing other information, such as the position of opponents, game strategy, and a particular form or style of movement. This is the stage where athletes can respond almost reflexively, where they can "grip it and rip it," where they look and automatically react, and where they can enter a "zone" to achieve a state of flow.
Both good outcomes and bad outcomes are associated with the autonomous stage. Good outcomes are based on the fact that motor performance at this level requires much less cognitive demand, which thereby frees an athlete to engage in secondary tasks. On the other hand, when cognitive demand is lower, there can be more room for irrelevant and distracting thoughts. Another bad outcome during automatic motor performance is that an athlete may perpetuate incorrect movements. Just because a motor movement can be performed automatically does not mean the movement is correct or worthy of being maintained. Moreover, as soon as athletes stop thinking about a movement that was learned during the cognitive and associative stages, they may revert back to old and incorrect autonomous motor movements during competition or when they are under stress or are fatigued.
Indeed, there is always room for athletic improvement. This is true for all sports and all ages. Highly successful athletes and highly effective coaches are always looking for ways to get better. Consequently, they frequently revisit both the cognitive and associative stages of motor learning. Revisiting these stages can be essential for refining and perfecting athletic movements.
In the sport of tennis, for example, it is necessary to learn not only the rudimentary movements required to hit a ball, but also to quickly recognize, react, and respond to the movements of an opposing player. (The terms "athlete" and "player," as used herein, are intended to have the same meaning.) Indeed, an ability to recognize and react to an opponent's shot can determine whether a player is able to get in position to hit a ball, able to hit a weak defensive shot, or able to hit a strong winning shot.
A quick reaction to the movements of an opposing player can depend on an ability to anticipate, and the ability to anticipate can depend on an ability to read cues from an opposing player. Recent research has shown that one of the differences between an expert and a novice tennis player is where a player is looking (i.e., directing his/her attention) when an opponent hits the ball. In addition to a player's focus of attention, proficiency in tennis also depends on a player's efficiency of movement. Players and coaches can use many drills to improve movement efficiency. Drills can also help to train player attention and focus through proper anticipation, observation, and identification of an opponent's movements.
Without the aid of a coach it is often difficult for a player to be consistently alerted about incorrect movements or improper preparation. A player typically cannot observe their own movements and must rely on outcomes to judge whether a particular movement requires adjustment. In contrast, a third-party observer, such as a coach, can observe and analyze a player's movements as they occur independent of the outcome achieved and therefore are able to provide feedback to the player quickly after the incorrect movement occurs. However, even if coaches are utilized, they must rely on their individual comprehension of proper movements and preparation to judge their observations of a player to provide appropriate corrective feedback. Because both comprehension and observation can vary from person-to-person, corrective feedback received from coaches can be highly subjective and inconsistently provided to the player, therefore detracting from the efficiency of the player's motor skill acquisition.
Additionally, such corrective feedback is limited to verbal commands or engaging a player in visual response drills, neither of which require an athlete to react to an actual opponent. Training drills of this type are not efficient at providing immediate feedback to a player. As a result, the training benefit of such drills is not as high as it could be if appropriate feedback and cue instruction could be supplied in real time.

Tennis racket sensor system and coaching device


Disclosed is a method for nanostructure synthesis that includes growing nanostructures on a layered structure compound at a low temperature using a solution containing a solvent and at least one precursor. The method can include synthesizing and assembling nanowires in essentially the same method step. Disclosed nanostructures and nanowires are substantially uniform in diameter and single crystal. Nanowires can intersect to form networks and can be covalently bonded at points of intersection. Disclosed nanowire networks can be substantially uniform and can form an ordered network. Nanowire networks can be used to fabricate electronic and optical devices.

One-dimensional nanowires and nanotubes have been used to fabricate nanodevices such as transistors, nano biosensors, nano lasers, solar cells, and nano generators. Frequently, a nanodevice is fabricated from either a single nanowire or from a nanowire array that is assembled by complicated, multi-step nanofabrication processes. The practical application of these devices is limited by a need for methods for the mass production of nanostructures with uniform structure, composition, and electronic or optical properties. In the context of nanodevice fabrication, theoretical studies have suggested that when one-dimensional nanostructures are connected covalently, the resulting assembly is expected to possess mechanical, electronic, and porosity properties that are different from those of isolated one-dimensional building blocks. Such properties may play an important role in minimizing the size of devices while retaining good performance under low voltage consumption.
Mass production of some nano- and micro-devices requires tailoring nanostructures into networks. Nanowire networks have been synthesized using thermal evaporation and deposition at high temperatures which are not favorable for device integration. It is evident that there is a need to develop new methods for the synthesis of one-dimensional nanostructures and for the assembly of nanostructures into two-dimensional ordered superstructures or complex functional architectures that are favorable to large-scale production and device integration.

Mono-layer and multi-layer nanowire networks

State of Oregon acting by and through the State Board of Higher Education on behalf of Portland State University


A projection exposure system includes an illumination system configured to illuminate a mask with radiation. The projection exposure system also includes a projection objective configured to project an image of a pattern of the mask onto a radiation-sensitive substrate. The projection exposure system further includes an angle-selective filter arrangement arranged at or close to a field surface of the projection objective in a projection beam path optically downstream of the object surface. The angle-selective filter arrangement is effective to filter radiation incident on the filter arrangement according to an angle-selective filter function.

Microlithographic projection exposure methods and systems are currently used to fabricate semiconductor components and other finely patterned components. A microlithographic exposure process involves using a mask (reticle) that carries or forms a pattern of a structure to be imaged. The pattern is positioned in a projection exposure system between an illumination system and a projection objective in a region of the object surface of the projection objective. Primary radiation is provided by a primary radiation source and transformed by optical components of the illumination system to produce illumination radiation directed at the pattern of the mask in an illuminated field. The radiation modified by the mask and the pattern passes through the projection objective, which forms an image of the pattern in the image surface of the projection objective, where a substrate to be exposed is arranged. The substrate normally carries a radiation-sensitive layer (photoresist).
When a microlithographic projection exposure system is used in the manufacture of integrated circuits, the mask (reticle) may contain a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the integrated circuit. This pattern can be imaged onto an exposure area on a semiconductor wafer which serves as a substrate.
In many applications the projection objective is designed as a reduction projection objective forming a demagnified image of the pattern on the substrate at a magnification ratio |β|<1, for example at 4:1 (|β|=0.25) or 5:1 (|β|=0.2) reduction. Unit magnification projection objectives (|β|=1) may also be used. Magnifying projection objectives with magnification |β|>1 may be used, for example, in the manufacturing of liquid crystal display panels or other large micro structured components.
Projection exposure is performed at a given image-side numerical aperture NA appropriately selected for the specific type of pattern to be imaged. While a projection objective is designed with regard to aberration correction etc. to allow a specific maximum image-side numerical aperture (design NA), the effective numerical aperture actually used in an exposure process is normally defined by a mechanical aperture stop arranged at or close to a pupil surface of the projection objective, i.e. at a position which is in Fourier transform relationship to the image surface of the projection objective. A non-variable aperture stop with a fixed diameter of the aperture opening may be employed. Variable aperture stops allowing to vary the diameter of the aperture opening are employed in many cases, thereby allowing to set for specific applications the effective image-side numerical aperture to values smaller than the maximum possible image-side NA of the projection objective.
A variable aperture stop at a pupil surface of the projection objective involves a relatively well corrected pupil in order to ensure that changes in the effective numerical aperture actually used for an exposure by stopping up or stopping down the aperture stop have substantially the same effect for all field points of the field to be imaged (field-constant effect). Further, a mechanical aperture stop involves installation space in the region of the pupil surface. Therefore, no refractive or reflective optical surface of an optical element should be in the region of the pupil surface. Further, positions optically close to a pupil surface may be preferred positions of pupil filter elements and/or adjustable manipulation devices for deliberately (actively) changing the imaging properties of a projection objective. Therefore, it may be difficult to provide a variable or non-variable mechanical aperture stop at an appropriate pupil position of the projection objective.
A pattern of a mask may include different types of partial patterns. For example, a line pattern with densely packed parallel lines may be present in one portion of a pattern, and isolated features, such as contact holes, may be present in another portion of a mask. While imaging of line patterns with small pitch may involve a relatively high NA for imaging with sufficient resolution, isolated features may be imaged best with relatively lower NA values, for example in order to increase the depth of focus (DOF) of the projection objective. It may be difficult to find a suitable compromise NA to image both dense lines and isolated features with sufficient quality.
Further, due to the increasing demands on the efficiency of the lithographic manufacturing process there is a tendency to increase the power of the light sources. Also, progressively shorter wavelengths are used. Specific illumination settings are employed to optimize the imaging conditions for various pattern types. As a result, various time-dependent changes in the properties of optical materials and other components within the projection system are observed, which may sensibly affect the imaging quality of the exposure system. Non-uniform heating of lens groups and other transparent optical elements ("lens heating") during operation due to an increased absorption in parts of the optical system is one effect dynamically influencing the imaging properties.

Projection exposure system and projection exposure method


An animal tracking system comprising a first LoRa receiver configured as a gateway to receive transmissions on a first set of channels or a second set of channels and forward said transmissions to a first remote server, and a transmitting tag configured to be affixed to an animal. The transmitting tag includes a memory configured to store digital information, a passive RFID receiver configured to detect a close proximity to an RFID transmitter and store detection of the close proximity in comprising in the memory, a processor configured to determine an alarm status according to a frequency of detection of the close proximity, an internal energy source, and a LoRa transmitter configured to transmit signals for a distance greater than 100 meters via energy from the internal energy source.

Cattle ranches may contain a very large number of animals, sometimes in the tens of thousands for a single ranch. While raising cattle for beef production, a significant percentage (e.g., 6% to 7%) of these animals often become sick and are unable to be used for meat.
Some ranches electronically monitor the animals for signs of sickness to aid recovery and increase yield, but most ranches present many obstacles to setting up electronic monitoring of animals. Due to risk of electrocution, most ranches contain little or no high voltage electric lines anywhere in the vicinity where animals may roam. Furthermore, the large physical size of the ranch makes it difficult to transmit signal information from each animal to an information gathering location to send the signal information to an internet-based server.
In the past decade, passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) began to be used in tagging cattle. Passive RFID involves sending small amounts of energy as well as signals to a device in close proximity to the transmitter. The transmitted energy provides enough power for the RFID tag to process information and to send back a signal to the transmitter, thus providing an identification of the device that contains the RFID tag. Unfortunately, passive RFID tags are only powered when in close proximity to the transmitter (which occurs only a small fraction of each day), so the use of passive RFID in cattle tracking requires that the cattle come very close to (within a few meters of) the transmitter. Pure passive RFID tags cannot transmit positional information when the animal is not adjacent to an RFID transmitter.
In order to obviate the need for bringing a transmitter near the animal or getting all of the animals to come near a transmitter, tags that can transmit over very long distances would be required. This has not heretofore been implemented due to several unresolved obstacles. One obstacle is that the transmission of traditional long-range wireless signals over a long distance requires substantial amounts of energy. A large battery is required to provide energy for this type of transmission. The battery weight would cause discomfort for the animal, especially when used in an ear tag. Another obstacle is that quiescent current required by a traditional long-range wireless solution is relatively high, thus causing a battery to become quickly drained. Another obstacle is the need for frequent battery replacements. Another obstacle is the battery drain that occurs from continuously-operated sensors used to record information about the animal.
Yet another obstacle is the inherent cost in setting up multiple receivers that can measure signal strength of transmitted signals in addition to being able to process information from tens of thousands of animals when trying to determine animal position through trilateration.


In the toner comprising at least a colorant, a releasing agent and a binder resin, the releasing agent being a mixture of carnauba wax and non-paraffin wax, the binder resin contains a polyester resin having an acid value of 7 to 20 mg KOH/g. An electrophotographic negatively charged full color toner having good fixing property, glossiness, transparency, and releasability without coating a fixing oil to a fixing apparatus.

In the hard copy technique using electrophotography, toners of lower fixing temperature and wider fixing region have been required in recent years for black toners for use in black and white printing in view of the demand for the reduction of energy (saving of power consumption) and high speed operation and simplification and stabilization of fixing systems.
Further, the hard copy technique has been rapidly developed to full color application and, particularly, market for full color products have been extended more and more. In color images by the full color electrophotography, all colors are reproduced generally by using color toners of three colors: yellow, magenta and cyan as three primary colors or using four colors by adding black color thereto. That is, full color images are formed by repeating the process of charging, exposure, development and transfer on every toners described above, forming toner images comprising toners of plural colors on recording media and fusing and mixing toner images (color mixing), thereby fixing them on the recording media.
In the color electrophotography that requires development for several times and super-position of several kinds of toner images of different colors on one identical support as a fixing step, fixing property of color toners is an extremely important factor. That is, a color toner to be fixed should have a wide color reproduction range capable of being fused till the boundary between the toner particles is eliminated thereby providing transparency so that the toner particles do not cause random reflection to light and hinder color reproduction. Further, appropriate glossiness or luster is necessary.
Fixing apparatuses used for fixing color toners use rollers made of excellent materials of good surface releasability, and most of them are coated with a great amount of oils on the surface of the rollers, etc. However, coating of a great amount of oils for improving the releasability results in oil stains on transfer paper, increase in the cost and requiring a space for containing oils to bring about problems, for example, of complicating the fixing apparatus or increasing the size thereof.
Oils are generally used for fixing the color toners because it is necessary to increase the heat fusibility more upon heat fixing and lowering the viscosity to provide transparency in black toners for black and white printing. However, toners using such a resin reduce the cohesive force upon heat melting to cause deposition of toners to a heat fixing roller thereby bringing about high temperature offset. Accordingly, in order to prevent the high temperature offset, it is customary to coat oils to the fixing rollers thereby decreasing the depositability of the toners to the fixing rollers.
Then, it has been required in recent years to cope with an oilless mechanism without using an offset preventing effect mechanism by silicon oils with an aim of simplifying the fixing system mechanisms and preventing undesired effects of oils on images (oil stains and stickiness). For this purpose, it has been attempted use of so-called oilless toners not coating oils to fixing rollers that require improvement for the fixing property from low temperature to high temperature, and dispersion of wax into the toner is generally proposed. However, in a case of color toners, since it is necessary that the wax properly exudes from the toner of reduced viscosity as described above, and it is difficult to prevent offset.
JP-B No. 32624/1990 discloses a toner containing a polyester resin and a releasing agent comprising carnauba wax and polyolefin wax. However, since this is a black toner for use in black and white printing, transparency of the toner and fusing compatibility between toner particles are not taken into consideration and this is not sufficient to have a wide fixing region as a color toner.
JP-A No. 2917/1999 discloses a color toner containing a mixture of a plant wax and a synthetic hydrocarbon wax but no appropriate exuding effect of wax from the resin is taken into consideration and the effect thereof is insufficient to provide a wide fixing region at high speed and oilless function.
JP-A No. 284528/2000 proposes to select an olefin polymer having a cyclic structure and high viscosity as a toner binder in order to prevent offset and, further, to use a wax selected from amide wax, carnauba wax, higher fatty acid and ester thereof, higher fatty acid metal soap, partially saponified higher fatty acid ester, higher fatty acid alcohol, polyolefin wax and paraffin wax. However, no appropriate exuding effect of respective waxes from the resins is taken into consideration and the non-offset region is insufficient and impractical.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Systems and methods are disclosed that include providing a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system with a system controller and an indoor air handling unit comprising an auxiliary heat source, whereby the system controller is configured to employ a hysteresis control algorithm to operate the HVAC system in a cooling mode while simultaneously operating the auxiliary heat source to provide a dehumidified, temperature-conditioned airflow to a zone conditioned by the HVAC system.

Heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) systems may generally be used in residential and/or commercial areas for heating and/or cooling to create comfortable temperatures inside those areas. Some HVAC systems may be split-type heat pump systems that have an indoor air handling unit and an outdoor unit and are capable of cooling a comfort zone by operating in a cooling mode for transferring heat from a comfort zone to an ambient zone using a refrigeration cycle and also generally capable of reversing the direction of refrigerant flow through the components of the HVAC system so that heat is transferred from the ambient zone to the comfort zone, thereby heating the comfort zone. In hot, humid climates, high humidity levels greater than 60% relative humidity (RH) can be common, particularly during a shoulder season under mild outdoor conditions when the HVAC system operates infrequently. However, some HVAC systems lack the ability to dehumidify a comfort zone while providing cooling to the comfort zone without costly dehumidification equipment.

Control of residential HVAC equipment for dehumidification


A method includes: while streaming video frames on a network toward a client device, detecting a loss of connectivity between the network and the client device; responsive to detecting the loss of the connectivity between the network and the client device, ceasing the streaming of the video frames toward the client device; subsequent to detecting the loss of connectivity, determining that the connectivity between the network and the client device has been re-established; responsive to determining that the connectivity between the network and the client device has been re-established, resuming the streaming of the video frames on the network toward the client device by transmitting an Instantaneous Decoder Refresh (IDR) frame on the network toward the client device without sending one or more frames corresponding to images chronologically prior to an image corresponding to the IDR frame.

Compression of digital video data is used for many applications including transmission over bandwidth constrained channels, such as direct broadcast satellite, a controller to an access point, an access point to a client device, and storage on optical media. In order to achieve efficient compression, complex, computationally intensive processes are used for encoding (compressing) and decoding (decompressing) video. For example, MPEG-2 (Moving Pictures Expert Group, International organization for Standards, Geneva, Switzerland) is known as an efficient method for compressing video.
Most modern digital video compression schemes, like H.264 ("Advanced Video Coding", International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector, Geneva, Switzerland), employ the concept of encoding a video stream as a set of intra-coded frames (referred to herein as "I-frames") and predictive frames (referred to herein as "P-frames"). I-frames include still pictures with image information. I-frames may be used as reference frames for P-frames. For example, P-frames may include information referring to one or more I-frames and indicate differences from the one or more I-frames. Furthermore, some P-frames may be used as reference frames for other P-frames. For example, a P-frame may include information referring to another P-frame and indicate differences from the other P-frame. A particular predictive frame that references to at least one frame to-be-displayed prior to that particular predictive frame and at least one frame to-be-displayed subsequent to that particular predictive frame may be referred to as a bi-predictive frame (referred to herein as "B-Frames").
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Method and system for synchronization of data streams


A network may include network switches with network switch ports that may be coupled to end hosts. The network switches may be controlled by a controller such as a controller server. Virtual switches may be formed using the controller from groups of the network switch ports and the end hosts. Each virtual switch may include virtual interfaces associated with end hosts or network switches. Virtual links may be formed that define network connections between the virtual interfaces and end hosts or between two virtual interfaces. Virtual network policies such as selective packet forwarding, packet dropping, packet redirection, packet modification, or packet logging may be implemented at selected virtual interfaces to control traffic through the communications network. The controller may translate the virtual network policies into network switch forwarding paths that satisfy the virtual network policies.

This relates to communication networks, and more particularly, to forwarding network packets through communication networks.
Packet-based networks such as the internet and local data networks that are connected to the internet include network switches. Network switches are used in forwarding packets from packet sources to packet destinations. The packets may be sometimes referred to as frames.
It can be difficult or impossible to control the switches of one vendor using the equipment of another vendor. This is because the switch equipment of one vendor may use a different operating system and set of control procedures than the switch equipment of another vendor. To address the challenges associated with controlling different types of switch platforms, cross-platform protocols have been developed. These protocols allow centralized control of otherwise incompatible switches.
Cross-platform controller clients can be included on the switches in a network. The controller clients are able to communicate with a corresponding controller server over network paths. Because the controller clients can be implemented on a variety of switch hardware, it is possible for a single controller to control switch equipment that might otherwise be incompatible.
Each network switch on which a controller client has been implemented may include a flow table with entries that specify how packets are to be forwarded by that switch. A controller server routes traffic through the network by modifying the flow tables of the network switches to create data paths. For example, the controller can communicate with each network switch associated with a desired path to route a data packet from a packet source to a packet destination.
The controller server may implement network policies that control the flow of network packets through the network. For example, the controller server can block network traffic between selected packet sources and packet destinations. It may be difficult to implement network policies in networks that include many switches (e.g., tens, hundreds, thousands of switches or more), because each network policy may require modifications to the flow tables of many network switches.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved arrangements for applying network policy to a communications network.

System and methods for controlling network traffic through virtual switches


The temperature around the tracking actuator is detected with a temperature sensor, and the characteristics of an equivalent digital filter are changed to match the characteristics of the tracking actuator at the detected temperature. When the temperature is low, a current is applied to the focus control coil to raise the temperature of the tracking actuator, thereby essentially matching the transfer functions of the tracking actuator and the equivalent filter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tracking control apparatus for an optical disk device which records and reads data to/from a recording carrier having plural data tracks using an optical beam emitted from a semiconductor laser diode or other source.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a tracking control apparatus in a conventional optical disk device. The recording carrier 1, such as a disk, is mounted on the spindle of motor 2, and thereby driven at the rated speed. The signal is recorded to a spiral track imprinted to the recording carrier 1. The track width in this example is 0.6 .mu.m wide, and the track pitch is 1.6 .mu.m.
The optical beam 4 emitted from the light source 3, which is often a semiconductor laser diode, is modified to a parallel beam by the coupling lens 5, passed through the polarization beam splitter 6 and 1/4 wavelength plate 7, and reflected by the total reflection mirror 8 which is mounted on a carrier 13. The reflected beam is then focused by the objective lens 10 on the recording carrier 1.
The objective lens 10 is mounted on a movable member 40 and the optical axis of the objective lens 10 is parallel to the shaft 51 to which the movable member 40 is rotatably and slidably mounted. The movable member 40 comprises bearings enabling it to move vertically along sliding motion shaft 51, which is mounted on a carrier 13, and can pivot from a neutral position, around the sliding motion shaft 51. The movable member 40 is mounted to the carrier 13 and a rubber 52 extends between the movable member 40 and the inside wall of carrier 13, so that the movable member 40 is biased to stay in the neutral position in which the optical axis of the optical beam 4 is aligned with the optical axis of the objective lens 10.
The carrier 13 is constructed so that it can move over the base 53 radially to the recording carrier 1. For the purpose of focus adjustment, the movable member 40 can be driven vertically along the sliding motion shaft 51 when current is applied to the coil 313 which is fixed to the movable member 40. When current is applied to the coil 313, an electromagnetic force is developed between the coil 313 and a permanent magnet (not shown) mounted on the carrier 13 to move the movable member 40 along the shaft 51.
When current is applied to the coil 14, which serves as a linear motor together with the permanent magnets (not shown) mounted on the base 53, the carrier 13 to which the total reflection mirror 8 and objective lens 10 are mounted moves radially to the recording carrier 1 due to the electromagnetic force developed between the coil 14 and the permanent magnets.
The movable member 40 is further constructed to pivot, by a very small amount, around the sliding motion shaft 51 from the neutral position against the biasing force of rubber 52 when a current is applied to the coil 89. The coil 89 is fixed to the movable member 40 and a permanent magnet (not shown) is provided on the carrier 13. When current is applied to the coil 89, the electromagnetic force developed between the coil 89 and the permanent magnet causes movable member 40 to pivot about shaft 51 by a small degree. This results in the pivotal movement of the objective lens 10 mounted on the movable member 40 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the track extending direction in the range of several hundred micrometers (.mu.m), so as to control the tracking error (or track deviation error). Hereinafter, the assembly for moving the objective lens 10 in a direction perpendicular to the tracks, i.e., in the radial direction of the disk 1, by applying a current to coil 89 is referred to as the "tracking actuator."
The reflected light 9 from the recording carrier 1 passes the objective lens 10, is reflected by the total reflection mirror 8, passes the 1/4 wavelength plate 7, and is reflected by the polarization beam splitter 6 into the detection lens 81. Part of the reflected light 9 passing the detection lens 81 is incident on the photodetector 303.
The photodetector 303 has a two part construction, and the output from each part is input respectively to the amplifiers 304, 305. The outputs from the amplifiers 304, 305 are input to the corresponding terminals of the differential amplifier 306, which outputs the difference signal of the two inputs.
This configuration forms a focus error signal detection system commonly known as the knife edge method, and results in a focus error signal indicating the offset between the recording carrier 1 and the focusing point of the optical beam 4 constricted by the objective lens 10. The focus is controlled by applying current to the coil 313 according to this focus error signal to drive the objective lens 10 up or down so that the focal point of the optical beam 4 is positioned on the recording carrier 1.
It is to be noted that the phase compensation circuit 307 is used to maintain an acceptable phase margin in the focus control system, and the drive circuit 311 is the power amplifying circuit.
The light source 3, coupling lens 5, polarization beam splitter 6, 1/4 wavelength plate 7, detection lens 81, reflecting mirror 82, and photodetectors 11 and 303 are secured to the base 53 of the device. Part of the reflected light 9 passing the detection lens 81 is also incident on the other photodetector 11.
This photodetector 11 also has a two part construction, and the output from each part is input respectively to the amplifiers 16, 17. The outputs from the amplifiers 16, 17 are input to the corresponding terminals of the differential amplifier 18, which outputs the difference signal of the two inputs. The output of the differential amplifier 18 is used as the tracking error signal TE indicating the offset between the track and the optical beam 4 spot focused on the recording carrier 1. This configuration forms a detection system commonly called a "push-pull method."
The output signal from the differential amplifier 18 is input to the phase compensation filter 300, which corrects the phase of the tracking control system. The output of the phase compensation filter 300 is input to the power amplifying drive circuit 35 and equivalent filter 301. The drive circuit 35 supplies the current to the coil 89 according to the input signal. Thus, the movable member 40 pivots by an amount and in the direction determined by the TE signal from the neutral position against the biasing force of rubber 52. The objective lens 10 on the movable member 40 is thus shifted in the radial direction of the disk 1 by a small amount, in the order of several hundred micrometers, to correct the tracking error.
According to the push-pull method for correcting the deflection between the beam center and the track center, the objective lens 10 is pivoted by the pivotal movement of the movable member 40. However, when the objective lens 10 is pivoted by an amount determined by the tracking error signal TE, the optical axis of the objective lens 10 deviates from the optical axis of the beam entering the objective lens 10, resulting in a quasi-tracking error. To eliminate the quasi-tracking error, carrier 13 is moved in a similar manner to the pivotal movement of the movable member 40. To this end, equivalent filter 301 is provided which simulates the pivotal movement of the movable member 40 with respect to the tracking error signal TE.
The transfer function of the equivalent filter 301 is equivalent to the relationship of the displacement of the objective lens 10, mounted on the movable member 40, to the current supplied to the coil 89. In other words, the equivalent filter 301 is a simulator which gives an output equal to the amount and direction of the shift of the objective lens 10 in response to the input TE signal. The output of the equivalent filter 301, which is referred to as a simulation signal SS, expresses the displacement of the objective lens 10 for correcting the quasi-tracking error.
The transfer function of the equivalent filter 301 is determined by the amount of displacement of the objective lens 10 with respect to the input TE signal. Because rubber 52 is used to hold the movable member 40 in the neutral position, and the pivotal movement is effected against the rubber force, it is necessary to consider the characteristics of the rubber 52 in the transfer function. Since rubber 52 shown in FIG. 1 typically has both spring characteristics and viscosity, the transfer function has a quadratic form as shown in equation 1. ##EQU1## where Ke is the spring constant, Kf is the thrust constant, D is the viscosity coefficient or the damping factor, m is the mass of the movable member 40, including the objective lens 10, and S is a Laplacian factor expressed in complex number. The equivalent filter 301 is thus an electrical circuit with the transfer function defined in equation (1).
The equivalent filter 301 produces the simulation signal SS indicative of pivotal movement of the objective lens 10 about the shaft 51, and the simulation signal is applied to the coil 14 of the linear motor through the phase compensation filter 302 and the drive circuit 36 to assure the phase margin of the carrier 13 control system. Therefore, the carrier 13 moves in the radial outward direction to move the objective lens 10 together with the carrier 13 to a position to counterbalance the quasi-tracking error, resulting such that the displacement of the optical axis of the objective lens 10 with respect to the aiming track becomes substantially zero.
It should be noted that the control band of the tracking actuator is typically approximately 2 kHz, and the control band of the carrier 13 is several hundred hertz.
The problem with this conventional tracking control apparatus is that the amount of pivotal movement of the objective lens 10 varies with respect to the temperature change, because the viscosity constant of the rubber varies with temperature. However, such a variation in the amount of the pivotal movement of the objective lens due to the temperature change is not effected in the equivalent filter 301. According to the prior art tracking control apparatus of FIG. 1, the equivalent filter 301 is designed to simulate the pivotal movement of the objective lens 10 at the fixed temperature, such as 20.degree. C. Therefore, when the temperature of the rubber 52 changes from 20.degree. C., the simulation signal SS as produced from the equivalent filter 301 is not equal to the actual pivotal movement of the objective lens 10. As a result, the high precision tracking control is not possible, and the control system becomes unstable the greater the temperature difference becomes.

Tracking control apparatus for an optical disk device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.