An apparatus and a method for determining a gateway using lower power are provided. The method includes setting probing transmission power for setting the gateway, transmitting a probing request message to another mobile station existing in a cluster with the set probing transmission power, when a probing response message is received from the other mobile station, generating a probing response list for the mobile station having transmitted the probing response message, determining whether a cluster list for mobile stations existing in the cluster corresponds to the probing response list, and determining a gateway mobile station according to a result of the determination as to whether the cluster list for mobile stations existing in the cluster corresponds to the probing response list.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for determining a gateway mobile station capable of broadcasting with low power when a base station transmits a control message.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) refers to a technology in which mobile stations are connected in a multi-hop fashion when short range communication is possible between the mobile stations and data is transmitted to a destination mobile station after a proper path is found through a routing technique.
The MANET has heretofore been predominantly used as military equipment in a battle field having insufficient infra communication networks. However, MANET has recently evolved to a public safe network capable of operating even when an act of terrorism or a disaster occurs, or a smart grid type network for controlling electricity, water supply, and gas.
Meanwhile, a Beyond 4th Generation (B4G) technology is being researched to address the limitation in a transmission rate of 4th Generation (4G) communication such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) or Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX). In the B4G technology, it is expected that related art cellular communication is combined with other types of communication.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a heterogeneous network including a cellular network and an ad-hoc network according to the related art.
A heterogeneous network generated when one Mobile Station (MS or terminal node) can simultaneously access the cellular network and the MANET may be configured as illustrated in FIG. 1.
When a cell cannot completely accommodate increasing mobile stations because the mobile stations are far away from a base station or an interference signal from a neighboring base station is strong, the base station does not directly perform transmission/reception with a target mobile station and performs the transmission through another mobile station in a multi-hop fashion. At this time, the base station can manage the mobile stations by a cluster in order to control the mobile stations in response to an increase in cell capacities, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
Another reason why such a structure is generated is that a case is created in which the cluster is formed between mobile stations, which are regionally close to each other, is increased as services related to a Social Networking Service (SNS), a game, a chat, a bulletin board, and the like according to a short range communication network. The structure may be applied to data transmission for the above services.
A cluster according to the related art can access the cellular network through a single or a plurality of gateways. A method of determining such a gateway mobile station is an issue which has been frequently researched in the MANET.
However, a method of determining the gateway according to the related art has a problem in that only a data transmission rate, a routing overhead, a power consumption rate, and a transmission delay of each mobile station are considered because the method is configured to optimize only requirements of the ad-hoc network.
Further, the method has a problem in that only data collected by the gateway from the mobile station is considered because it is assumed that the gateway is connected through an Internet wired network.
Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus and a method for determining a gateway mobile station, which is suitable for transmitting data, from mobile stations when a heterogeneous network is configured by the mobile stations which can simultaneously access a cellular network and a wireless ad-hoc network.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.

Apparatus and method for determining gateway considering low power


A small-sized, light-weight display device having an audio output circuit is provided. A display device of the present invention has a flat speaker and an audio signal processing device is constructed from thin film semiconductor elements, typically, thin film transistors, on the display device. The speaker is driven by BTL driving, thereby reducing the power supply voltage and preventing degradation of the thin film transistors. A display device with a built-in audio signal processing circuit is thus reduced in size and weight.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device having an electric signal processing circuit including thin film semiconductor elements and which drives an output device for outputting other signals than a video signal, and more specifically to a display device in which an audio signal processing circuit for driving a speaker is integrally formed on a substrate. In this specification, the term speaker includes a transducer which outputs audio by vibrating members of a display device such as a glass substrate, a plastic substrate, or a touch panel, and refers to devices in general that convert electric signals into audio.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advance of communication technologies has made cellular phones popular in recent years, and now more information communication including transmission of motion pictures is expected. Meanwhile, personal computers have become light-weight, prompting manufacture of mobile type products. Also, information terminals called PDA which originate from electronic organizers are being mass-produced and gaining popularity. Most of such portable information appliances have flat panel displays owing to development of display devices.
Among active matrix type display devices, ones that use low temperature polysilicon thin film transistors (hereinafter a thin film transistor is referred to as a TFT) has recently begun to be commercialized. Low temperature polysilicon TFTs make it possible to form not only a pixel portion but also a signal line driving circuit integrally with the driving circuit placed in the periphery of the pixel portion. Therefore, low temperature polysilicon TFTs are helpful in downsizing display devices and increasing a definition of display devices, and their further propagation is predicted.
In addition to the image display function, other output functions, an audio output function in particular, are requested for portable information appliance. With audio, image display can be more effective and accordingly more fully appreciated.
Usual audio output devices output audio by converting electric signals into audio through cone speakers or the like. Corn speakers take up a large area inside portable information appliance and therefore present an obstacle to reduction in size and weight of portable information appliance.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are profile diagrams showing a display device and its periphery in conventional portable information appliance with an audio output function. The display device has a substrate 209 on which a pixel portion 204, a source signal line driving circuit 202, and a gate signal line driving circuit 203 are formed integrally. FIG. 2A is a top view of the display device and FIG. 2B is a lateral view of the display device. A source signal line driving circuit 202, a gate signal line driving circuit 203 and a pixel portion 204 are omitted in FIG. 2B for simple display. Attached to the display device are a cone speaker 207, an FPC 205, an opposite substrate 208, and an audio signal processing circuit 210 mounted on a printed board 206.
The cone speaker 207 is unfit for reduction in size and weight of the portable information appliance due to its large size. For that reason, flat speakers as the one shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B are being developed. FIGS. 3A and 3B are profile diagrams of a display device and its periphery in portable information appliance 301 with a flat speaker. The display device has a substrate 309 on which a pixel portion 304, a source signal line driving circuit 302, and a gate signal line driving circuit 303 are formed integrally. FIG. 3A is a top view of the display device and FIG. 3B is a lateral view of the display device. A source signal line driving circuit 302, a gate signal line driving circuit 303 and a pixel portion 304 are omitted in FIG. 3B for simple display. Attached to the display device are a flat speaker 306, FPCs 305 and 308, an opposite substrate 310, and an audio signal processing circuit 307 mounted on a printed board 311.
The flat speaker is similar to conventional speakers in that electric signals are converted into vibrations to output audio but is different in that a glass substrate, a plastic substrate, a touch panel, or the like of the display device or others is vibrated instead of the cone. With such a flat speaker, the portable information appliance can have a smaller size and lighter weight than a conventional one that uses a cone speaker.
FIG. 17 shows an example of a flat speaker. In this example, a touch panel 1702, a lower substrate 1705, an adhesive 1706, and a liquid crystal panel 1704 are set in a chassis 1701 and vibrated by a speaker 1703 to output audio. (See. Nikkei Electronics, Aug. 26, 2002, p. 52)
Although flat speakers are very effective means in reducing the size and weight of portable information appliance as described above, there is the following problem to be solved:
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the audio signal processing circuit 307 for driving the flat speaker 306 has the printed board 311 placed outside the display device and an LSI is mounted on the printed board 311 similarly to conventional portable information appliance. This is still insufficient for reduction in size and weight of portable information appliance.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A method and apparatus for monitoring maximum power point tracking (MPPT) by measuring, external to a device that performs the MPPT, a DC current and a DC voltage to obtain a DC current value and a DC voltage value, wherein the DC current and the DC voltage are from a distributed generator (DG) coupled to the device. The method determining, external to the device, a constellation of data points, wherein each data point of the constellation comprises a DC voltage change and a corresponding DC current change resulting from an AC waveform, and determining, a dynamic resistance of the DG based on the constellation. The method computes a ratio of the DC voltage value to the DC current value, compares the dynamic resistance to the ratio, and determines, based on the comparison of the dynamic resistance to the ratio, if the DG is biased at a maximum power point (MPP).

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to distributed power systems and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for monitoring maximum power point tracking.
Description of the Related Art
Distributed power systems typically comprise a power source that generates direct current (DC) power, a power converter, and a controller. The power source may be a distributed generator such as a photovoltaic (PV) module, a wind turbine, a hydroelectric generator, fuel cell, and the like. The power converter may convert the DC power into alternating current (AC) power, which may be coupled directly to the AC power grid.
One indicator of the efficiency at which the distributed generator is operating is represented in a graph of current versus voltage also referred to as an I-V curve or I-V characteristic. The point on the curve associated with the voltage and current values that result in maximum power is known as the maximum power point (MPP). To ensure that the distributed generator is running at peak efficiency, a technique is used to maintain the distributed generator at this maximum power point, i.e., a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) function implemented by a coupled power converter. Ideally, the MPPT function ensures a maximum power from the distributed generator as power output may vary, for example as a result from degradation or shading of a PV module. The MPPT function varies internal electronic controls of the power converter to drive the distributed generator to its MPP. Since the MPP shifts with external factors (PV panel degradation, shading, and the like), it is important that MPPT operates efficiently to maintain the distributed generator at its MPP.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for monitoring the MPPT performance of a device performing MPPT.

Method and apparatus for monitoring maximum power point tracking


A protective suit for covering the limbs and body of an operative to shield them from the effects of explosive devices such as anti-personnel mines includes on the front thereof an upper reinforced breast plate and a lower reinforced groin plate to provide added protection to the vital organs of the wearer. In the deployed position the groin plate at its upper end overlaps the lower end of the breast plate, and the lower end of the groin plate extends in front of and below the crotch region of the wearer. The groin plate is movable upwardly to a retracted position within a pouch in front of the breast plate, and in this retracted position does not interfere with the freedom of movement of the wearer's legs.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new or improved groin protector for a protective suit and to a protective suit including such groin protector.
The invention is particularly although not exclusively applicable to the types of protective suits commonly employed by personnel involved in bomb disposal and mine clearance operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Protective equipment provided for individuals involved in such hazardous duties as mine clearance and bomb disposal is required to provide to the wearer a degree of overall protection from fragmentation and blast effects. This requires the provision of special footwear, gauntlets and head gear, as well as a suit which offers a degree of protection to the limbs, torso, neck and head of the wearer, while also providing enhanced protection to the wearer's vital organs and spine. It is essential that any such suit provides an adequate level of protection without unduly inhibiting the freedom of movement of the wearer, since the wearer must still be able to move about and perform various tasks involved in his duties.


A spacer forming device according to the present invention includes glass plate fixing means for fixing one glass plate, an applicator head for applying a spacer forming material, spacer forming material supply means having an extruding means that extrudes the spacer forming material while melting and mixing the material and a fixed displacement pump for supplying the spacer forming material extruded from the extruding means to the applicator head, and an articulated robot that moves the applicator head along the periphery of the one glass plate. By using the spacer forming device, the spacer forming material is applied from the applicator head along the periphery of the upper surface of the one glass plate thereon to form a spacer.

In a construction field and the like, double glazing has been heretofore used for the purpose of heat insulation; dew condensation prevention, sound insulation and the like. As such double glazing, there has been known double glazing having glass plates, a spacer placed between the peripheries of the glass plates and an airtightly sealed air space defined by the spacer between the glass plates, the spacer being formed of rubber, resin or the like having a drying agent mixed therein, the airtightly sealed air space being shut out from ambient air (see Japanese patent application Kokai publication Nos. 10 (1998)-110072 and 2001-354949, for example).
The double glazing described above is manufactured, for example, by extruding a spacer forming material from an extruder along the peripheries of two glass plates held with a predetermined space therebetween, before the material is cooled (see Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. 8 (1996)-67537, for example).
There is also a method of manufacturing double glazing by extruding a spacer forming material in a strip shape along the periphery of one glass plate thereon using a ram pressure type device, before press-attaching the other glass plate thereon.
However, in the former method, since the spacer forming material is extruded directly from the extruder, the cross-sectional shape of the extruded spacer forming material becomes unstable when the extrusion is started and finished. Thus, there is a problem that an airtight effect for the air space provided by the formed spacer becomes unstable.
In the latter method, since the ram pressure type device is used to apply the spacer forming material, a hot-melt type material is required to be used as the spacer forming material. Thus, there is a problem that the type of the spacer forming material to be used is limited.

Method of manufacturing double-glazing, and spacer forming device used for the manufacturing method


A file server architecture decouples logical storage from physical storage and provides proactive detection and containment of faults, errors, and corruptions in a file system, in order to enable in place (online) and non-intrusive recovery. The file system is built upon a thinly provisioned logical volume, and there are stored three copies of the metadata defining the logical volume in order to provide quick, deterministic, and reliable recovery from a faulted system. A first copy of the metadata is distributed among all of the slices of physical storage allocated to the logical volume. A second copy of the metadata is stored in a root slice of the logical volume. A third copy of the metadata is stored separate from the slices of physical storage allocated to the logical volume.

Network data storage is most economically provided by an array of low-cost disk drives integrated with a large semiconductor cache memory. A number of data mover computers are used to interface the cached disk array to the network. The data mover computers perform file locking management and mapping of the network files to logical block addresses of storage in the cached disk array, and move data between network clients and the storage in the cached disk array. See, for example, Vahalia et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,140 issued Apr. 6, 1999, entitled "File Server Having a File System Cache and Protocol for Truly Safe Asynchronous Writes," incorporated herein by reference.
Typically the logical block addresses of storage are subdivided into logical volumes. Each logical volume is mapped to the physical storage using a respective striping and redundancy scheme. The data mover computers typically use the Network File System (NFS) protocol to receive file access commands from clients using the UNIX (Trademark) operating system or the LINUX (Trademark) operating system, and the data mover computers use the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol to receive file access commands from clients using the MicroSoft (MS) WINDOWS (Trademark) operating system. The NFS protocol is described in "NFS: Network File System Protocol Specification," Network Working Group, Request for Comments: 1094, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., March 1989, 27 pages, and in S. Shepler et al., "Network File System (NFS) Version 4 Protocol," Network Working Group, Request for Comments: 3530, The Internet Society, Reston, Va., April 2003, 262 pages. The CIFS protocol is described in Paul J. Leach and Dilip C. Naik, "A Common Internet File System (CIFS/1.0) Protocol," Network Working Group, Internet Engineering Task Force, The Internet Society, Reston, Va., Dec. 19, 1997, 121 pages.
The data mover computers may also be programmed to provide clients with network block services in accordance with the Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) protocol, also known as SCSI over IP. The iSCSI protocol is described in J. Satran et al., "Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI)," Network Working Group, Request for Comments: 3720, The Internet Society, Reston, Va., April 2004, 240 pages. The data mover computers use a network block services protocol in a configuration process in order to export to the clients logical volumes of network attached storage, which become local pseudo-disk instances. See, for example, Jiang et al., Patent Application Publication US 2004/0059822 A1 published Mar. 25, 2004, entitled "Network Block Services for Client Access of Network-Attached Storage in an IP Network," incorporated herein by reference.
A storage object such as a virtual disk drive or a raw logical volume can be contained in a file compatible with the UNIX (Trademark) operating system so that the storage object can be exported using the NFS or CIFS protocol and shared among the clients. In this case, the storage object can be replicated and backed up using conventional file replication and backup facilities without disruption of client access to the storage object. See, for example, Liang et al., Patent Application Publication US 2005/0044162 A1 published Feb. 24, 2005, entitled "Multi-Protocol Sharable Virtual Storage Objects," incorporated herein by reference. The container file can be a sparse file. As data is written to a sparse file, the size of the file can grow up to a pre-specified maximum number of blocks, and the maximum block size can then be extended by moving the end-of-file (eof). See, for example, Bixby et al., Patent Application Publication US 2005/0065986 A1 published Mar. 24, 2005, entitled "Maintenance of a File Version Set Including Read-Only and Read-Write Snapshot Copies of a Production File," incorporated herein by reference, and Mullick et al., Patent Application Publication 2005/0066095 A1 published Mar. 24, 2005, entitled "Multi-Threaded Write Interface and Methods for Increasing the Single File Read and Write Throughput of a File Server," incorporated herein by reference.

Deterministic recovery of a file system built on a thinly provisioned logical volume having redundant metadata


Disclosed are nucleic acids encoding BAFF-R polypeptides, as well as antibodies to BAFF-R polypeptides and pharmaceutical compositions including the same. Methods of treating tumorigenic and autoimmune conditions using the nucleic acids, polypeptides, antibodies and pharmaceutical compositions of this invention are also provided.

The present invention relates to a novel receptor in the TNF family. A novel receptor has been identified as the BAFF receptor ("BAFF-R").
The TNF family consists of pairs of ligands and their specific receptors referred to as TNF family ligands and TNF family receptors (Bazzoni and Beutler (1996) N. Engl. J. Med. 334(26):1717-1725. The family is involved in the regulation of the immune system and possibly other non-immunological systems. The regulation is often at a "master switch" level such that TNF family signaling can result in a large number of subsequent events best typified by TNF. TNF can initiate the general protective inflammatory response of an organism to foreign invasion that involves the altered display of adhesion molecules involved in cell trafficking chemokine production to drive specific cells into specific compartments, and the priming of various effector cells. As such, the regulation of these pathways has clinical potential.
Induction of various cellular responses mediated by such TNF family cytokines is believed to be initiated by their binding to specific cell receptors. At least two distinct TNF receptors of approximately 55 kDa (TNFR1) and 75 kDa (TNFR2) have been identified (Hohman et al. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264:14927-14934; and Brockhaus et al. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:3127-3131). Extensive polymorphisms have been associated with both TNF receptor genes. Both TNFRs share the typical structure of cell surface receptors including extracellular, transmembrane and intracellular domains. The extracellular portion of type 1 and type 2 TNFRs contains a repetitive amino acid sequence pattern of four cysteine rich domains (CDRs). A similar repetitive pattern of CDRs exist in several other cell surface proteins, including p75 nerve growth factor receptor, the B-cell antigen CD40 amongst others.
The receptors are powerful tools to elucidate biological pathways because of their easy conversion to immunoglobulin fusion proteins. These dimeric soluble receptor forms are good inhibitors of events mediated by either secreted or surface bound ligands. By binding to these ligands they prevent the ligand from interacting with cell associated receptors that can signal. Not only are these receptor-Fc fusion proteins useful in an experimental sense, but they have been successfully used clinically in the case of TNF-R-Fc to treat inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis and the acute clinical syndrome accompanying OKT3 administration (Eason et al. (1996) Transplantation 61(2):224-228; Feldmann et al. (1996) Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. 111(4):362-365; and van Dullemen et al. (1995) Gastroenterol. 109(1):129-135). One can envision that manipulation of the many events mediated by signaling through the TNF family of receptors will have wide application in the treatment of immune based diseases and also the wide range of human diseases that have pathological sequelae due to immune system involvement. A soluble form of a recently described receptor, osteoprotegerin, can block the loss of bone mass and, therefore, the events controlled by TNF family receptor signaling are not necessarily limited to immune system regulation (Simonet et al. (1997) Cell 89(2):309-319). Antibodies to the receptor can block ligand binding and hence can also have clinical application. Such antibodies are often very long-lived and may have advantages over soluble receptor-Fc fusion proteins which have shorter blood half-lives.
While inhibition of the receptor mediated pathway represents the most exploited therapeutic application of these receptors, originally it was the activation of the TNF receptors that showed clinical promise (Aggarwal and Natarajan (1996) Eur Cytokine Netw. 7(2):93-124). Activation of the TNF receptors can initiate cell death in the target cell and hence the application to tumors was and still is attractive (Eggermont et al. (1996) Ann. Surg. 224(6):756-765). The receptor can be activated either by administration of the ligand, i.e. the natural pathway or some antibodies that can crosslink the receptor are also potent agonists. Antibodies would have an advantage in oncology since they can persist in the blood for long periods whereas the ligands generally have short lifespans in the blood. As many of these receptors may be expressed more selectively in tumors or they may only signal cell-death or differentiation in tumors, agonist antibodies could be good weapons in the treatment of cancer. Likewise, many positive immunological events are mediated via the TNF family receptors, e.g. host inflammatory reactions, antibody production etc. and therefore agonistic antibodies could have beneficial effects in other, non-oncological applications.
Paradoxically, the inhibition of a pathway may have clinical benefit in the treatment of tumors. For example the Fas ligand is expressed by some tumors and this expression can lead to the death of Fas positive lymphocytes thus facilitating the ability of the tumor to evade the immune system in this case, inhibition of the Fas system could then allow the immune system to react to the tumor in other ways now that access is possible (Green and Ware (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94(12):5986-90).
The TNF family ligand BAFF, also known as TALL-1, THANK, BLyS and zTNF4 (Schneider et al. (1999) J. Exp. Med. 189(11):1747-1756; Shu et al. (1999) J. Leukoc. Biol. 65(5):680-683; Mukhopadhyay et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274(23):15978-15981; Moore et al. (1999) Science 285(5425):260-263; Gross et al. (2000) Nature 404(6780:995-999) enhances B cell survival in vitro (Batten et al. (2000) J. Exp. Med. 192(10):1453-1466) and has emerged as a key regulator of peripheral B cell populations in vivo. Mice over-expressing BAFF display mature B cell hyperplasia and symptoms of systemic lupus erythaematosus (SLE) (Mackay et al. (1999) J. Exp. Med. 190(11):1697-1710). As well, some SLE patients have significantly increased levels of BAFF in their serum (Zhang et al. (2001) J. Immunol. 166(1):6-10). It has therefore been proposed that abnormally high levels of this ligand may contribute to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases by enhancing the survival of autoreactive B cells (Batten et al. (2000) J. Exp. Med. 192(10):1453-1466).
BAFF, a type 13 membrane protein, is produced by cells of myeloid origin (Schneider et al. (1999) J. Exp. Med. 189(11):1747-1756; Moore et al. (1999) Science 285(5425):260-263) and is expressed either on the cell surface or in a soluble form (Schneider et al. (1999) J. Exp. Med. 189(11):1747-1756). Two TNF receptor family members, BCMA and TACI have previously been shown to interact with BAFF (Gross et al. (2000) Nature 404:995-999; Thompson et al. (2000) J. Exp. Med. 192(1):129-135; Xia et al. (2000) J. Exp. Med. 192:137-143; Marsters et al. (2000) Curr. Biol. 10(13):785-788; Shu et al. (2000) J. Leukoc. Biol. 65(5):680-683; Wu et al. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275:35478-35485).

Method of identifying compounds that bind BAFF-R


The present invention is a method for allowing a network system to automatically perform a configuration of a network management server without user intervention, and a method for allowing a load distribution device to manage the network management server comprises the steps of: receiving information indicating that a new base station is added to a network; transmitting the information on the new base station to at least one network management server; receiving processing time information on the new base station from the at least one network management server; and determining a network management server to which the new base station is to be allocated, on the basis of the processing time information.

In order to manage a network element, a network management server may be added for a set of network elements. In this case, it is necessary for a user to intervene in assigning a network management server for every network element. Particularly, when the number of base stations (which may be eNodeBs (eNBs)) is large, it is very important to configure a network management server in order to perform efficient communication. When a network management server is currently configured, every time the cell capacity of a network element is increased, it is required to configure a new network management server. A user is required to manually configure the new network management server, and particularly, data movement and effort are required to move a network element to be managed, from one network management server to another network management server.
As an example, when 10,000 base stations are managed by a single network management server and each base station has three cells, the total number of cells managed is 30,000. When the number of cells is increased to 9, capacity is increased to 300%. Therefore, it is further required to add two management servers. Current technology requires a user to intervene in extension according to an increase in capacity.

Method and device for automatically managing network


A portable communication terminal equipped with a first touch panel and a second touch panel that are switchable between a side-by-side configuration and a non-side-by-side configuration, and when (i) a contact point is detected on each of the first touch panel and the second touch panel in a same detection cycle and (ii) a distance between the contact points is within a predetermined range, the portable communication terminal displays an object on at least one of the first touch panel and the second touch panel based on one pair of position coordinates obtained based on two pairs of coordinates of the contact points.

Portable communication terminals equipped with two touch panels are known. In such a portable communication terminal, there are cases where the two touch panels need to serve as a single touch panel. In such cases, however, since each of the two touch panels is independent hardware and they are controlled separately, there has been a problem that it is difficult to move an object such as an icon displayed on one touch panel to the other. Generally, to drag an object displayed on a touch panel, a user first touches the object on the touch panel with a finger. The object moves as the contact point touched by the user's finger moves, and stops when the contact breaks as the user releases the finger. Hence, even when the user wishes to move an object from one touch panel to the other, the object stops at the position on the former touch panel where the contact breaks.
Patent Literature 1, for example, discloses a method as one approach to this problem. According to this method, a plurality of touch panels are managed as a single touch panel by using an integrated coordinate system. To move an object displayed on a first touch panel to a second touch panel, the user first touches the object displayed on the first touch panel with one hand, and while doing so, touches the second touch panel with the other hand, and then releases the hand from the first touch panel. In addition, Patent Literature 2, for example, discloses a portable communication terminal that reduces the load on a user of moving an object between two touch panels.

Portable communication terminal and display method


Wiring is routed to assure insulation between wiring traces in a semiconductor integrated circuit device. The device includes a first wiring trace to which a prescribed voltage is supplied; a second wiring trace that takes on a voltage that exceeds the prescribed voltage; and a third wiring trace that only takes on a voltage less than the prescribed voltage. Alternatively, the device includes a first wiring trace to which a prescribed voltage is supplied; a second wiring trace that takes on a voltage less than the prescribed voltage; and a third wiring trace that takes on a voltage equal to or greater than the prescribed voltage. The wiring traces are routed at a certain wiring space in such a manner that the first wiring trace is interposed between the second and third wiring traces. The first wiring trace for which the potential difference is known to be small beforehand is routed so as to always be adjacent to the second wiring trace. Accordingly, the third wiring trace for which there is the possibility that the potential difference relative to the second wiring trace will become large is never placed directly adjacent the second wiring trace. As a result of such routing, wiring is implemented in such a manner that the insulation between traces can be sufficiently assured.

Reducing power consumption is of paramount importance in semiconductor integrated circuits employed in mobile telephones and the like. A method of controlling substrate bias is one method of reducing power consumption in semiconductor integrated circuit devices. Substrate bias refers to the application of voltage to a well formed in the substrate of a transistor (namely to the back gate of the transistor). By way of example, when a transistor is operating, a forward substrate bias (which diminishes the potential difference between the gate and back gate) is applied, thereby facilitating the flow of current in the channel of the transistor and speeding up operation. When a transistor is non-operational, on the other hand, a reverse substrate bias (which enlarges the potential difference between the gate and back gate) is applied, thereby diminishing leakage of current and reducing power consumption. Such substrate bias is supplied via substrate-bias control wiring that is laid separate from ordinary power-supply wiring. Further, the wiring for substrate-bias control can take on a potential higher than the power-supply voltage or lower than ground voltage particularly when reverse substrate bias is applied.
An increase in device functionality and versatility has been accompanied by an increase in the degree of integration of semiconductor integrated circuit devices and in the density of wiring in such devices. In already existing routing processes, routing is performed so as to maintain a prescribed minimum spacing. More specifically, in a case where substrate-bias control is not performed, a design method implemented by a design system is carried out to perform routing in such a manner that the minimum necessary wiring spacing will be adopted as the prescribed minimum spacing in order to assure reliability even if the maximum potential difference develops between the power supply and ground. On the other hand, a design method of assuring insulation between wiring traces by causing an automatic routing tool to recognize the potential of each wiring trace and changing the wiring spacing in accordance with the potential difference between traces has been disclosed in Patent Document 1. This method includes inputting net-list data that specifies the potentials of wiring networks and creating wiring layout data based upon wiring spacing that corresponds to the potential difference between networks.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-P2003-31664A


A vacuum generating device, fabricated in the form of an ejector pump stack and used for generating negative pressure in an absorption unit, such as an absorption pad of a vacuum feeding system, is disclosed. The vacuum generating device includes a plurality of ejector pump modules that share the same shape and construction and are closely arranged in a casing to be stacked side by side while being brought into contact with each other. The casing holds the ejector pump modules in place inside the vacuum generating device. A vacuum-off unit, used for releasing vacuum pressure from vacuum chambers of the ejector pump modules, is mounted onto the casing. The vacuum generating device also includes a vacuum-on solenoid valve connected to a first air inlet port of the casing, and a vacuum-off solenoid valve connected to a second air inlet port of the vacuum-off unit. The single vacuum-on solenoid valve performs the vacuum-on operation for the ejector pump modules, and the single vacuum-off solenoid valve performs the vacuum-off operation for the ejector pump modules. The vacuum generating device thus has a very simple construction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a vacuum generating device used for generating negative pressure in an absorption unit, such as an absorption pad, of a vacuum system, such as a vacuum feeding system used on a production line, and, more particularly, to a vacuum generating device fabricated in the form of a so-called xe2x80x9cejector pump stackxe2x80x9d.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An ejector pump stack-type vacuum generating device is a machine that is fabricated by closely arranging a plurality of ejector pump modules having the same shape and construction side by side, and by fixing such arranged ejector pump modules in a casing frame. In such a vacuum generating device of the ejector pump stack type, each of the ejector pump modules is connected to an absorption unit so as to generate negative pressure in the absorption unit. Such an ejector pump stack-type vacuum generating device has been preferably used in a vacuum feeding system to feed a heavy material from one place to another. When one or more absorption units, connected to the ejector pump modules of an ejector pump stack-type vacuum generating device used in a vacuum feeding system, unexpectedly fail to maintain pressure, the remaining normally functioning absorption units steadily maintain their negative pressure to safely hold a target heavy material and feed the material to a desired place.
However, conventional vacuum generating devices of the ejector pump stack type have a complex construction, so that they are expensive and are difficult to use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,232 discloses a vacuum generating device that is fabricated in the form of an ejector pump stack. In the US vacuum generating device, a plurality of ejector pump modules, each having a vacuum-on solenoid valve and a vacuum-off solenoid valve on both sides thereof, are sequentially stacked along a fitting rail by securing the fitting bases provided at the bottoms of the pump modules onto the fitting rail, thus forming an ejector pump stack. However, the above-mentioned US device is problematic in that it requires a vacuum-on solenoid valve and a vacuum-off solenoid valve on both sides of each ejector pump module, so that the device has a complex construction, resulting in an increase in the production cost of the device.
Another example of conventional vacuum generating devices fabricated in the form of an ejector pump stack is referred to in a catalogue of PIAB of Sweden (Vacuum Technique 96-35, Page 2:16-2:23). The PIAB""s vacuum generating device is fabricated by closely arranging a plurality of ejector pump modules side by side, and fixing the pump modules in their places inside a casing to form an ejector pump stack. In the PIAB""s vacuum generating device, each ejector pump module must have a compressed air inlet port, so that it is necessary for the device to be provided with the same number of air inlet lines as that of the ejector pump modules of the pump stack, thus resulting in a complex construction of the device and being inconvenient to a user while using the device.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum generating device which is fabricated in the form of an ejector pump stack with a simple construction, and which is reliably controlled in the vacuum-on operation and vacuum-off operation of its ejector pump modules by a single vacuum-on solenoid valve and a single vacuum-off solenoid valve, thus accomplishing the desired simple construction.
In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a vacuum generating device, comprising a plurality of ejector pump modules sharing the same shape and construction, and closely arranged side by side while coming into contact with each other, each of the ejector pump modules including an air inlet chamber opened at two opposite sides thereof, a vacuum chamber opened at a single side thereof, and an air outlet chamber opened at two opposite sides thereof, with communicating means formed in each of the ejector pump modules to allow the air inlet chamber, the vacuum chamber and the air outlet chamber of the ejector pump module to communicate with each other, and a vacuum port formed on a side surface of each of the ejector pump modules so as to communicate with the vacuum chamber of the ejector pump module; a casing including a front panel brought into contact with a first of the ejector pump modules, a rear panel brought into contact with a last of the ejector pump modules, and a plurality of spacers extending between the front and rear panels to support the arranged ejector pump modules in the casing, with a first air inlet port formed on either of the front and rear panels to communicate with the air inlet chambers of the ejector pump modules, and an air outlet port formed on at least one of the front and rear panels to communicate with the air outlet chambers of the ejector pump modules; a vacuum-off unit assembled with the casing and comprising a block body including a horizontal part and a vertical part, with a plurality of guide holes formed on the horizontal part along a straight line such that the guide holes are externally connected to a plurality of absorption units and internally communicate with the vacuum ports of the ejector pump modules, respectively, a second air inlet port formed on a surface of the vertical part, a main flow path formed in the vertical part while extending from the second air inlet port, and a plurality of branch paths branching from the main flow path to respectively extend inside the vacuum-off unit to reach the guide holes; and a vacuum-on solenoid valve and a vacuum-off solenoid valve connected to the first and second air inlet ports, respectively, so as to control a flow of compressed air from a compressed air source to the first and second air inlet ports.


Digital filtration is accomplished by splitting the incoming signal into phases. Each phase is then converted into a weighted sum reflecting the design of a prototype filter. Then the data is again split into phases at which time specific points may be interpolated and the data accumulated until a filtered signal has resulted. All of the steps can be easily modified after manufacture so that the filtration can handle variable bandwidth systems at low data rates, as well as implement a wide variety of filtering structures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the filtration of signals. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for digital filtration of signals.
2. The Prior Art
Filtration of signals is used in a variety of different applications. Filters work by responding differently to signals of different frequency. FIG. 1 depicts an example of a signal graphed by magnitude and frequency. This wave is then altered in some way by a filter. Different filters perform different operations on the wave.
FIGS. 2A-2C depict examples of the effects of different filters on the wave in FIG. 1. A common type of filter is one which changes the shape of a wave. An example of the effect of such a filter is depicted in FIG. 2A. Filters can be designed to alter the shape of waves in many different ways. Another common type of filter is a rejection filter, where a portion or portions of the signal is disregarded in favor of another portion. This usually takes the form of rejection based on frequency. An example of the effect of this type of filter is depicted in FIG. 2B. As one can see, the portions of the signal below frequency a and above frequency b have been reduced to zero magnitude, while the portion of the signal between frequencies a and b has been left unchanged.
Another type of filter commonly used is known as a lowpass filter. A lowpass filter filters out portions of the signal with higher than a specific frequency, only allowing the portions of the signal below that specific frequency to pass (hence the name lowpass). An example of the effect of such a filter is depicted in FIG. 2C. As one can see, the portion of the signal above frequency a has been rejected, while the portion under frequency a has been allowed to pass. These are just a few of the many different types of filters known in the prior art.
Variable bandwidth systems are those in which certain information is contained in blocks of frequency (or channels) which have different bandwidths. The simplest way to think of these systems is as a television broadcast system. FIG. 3 depicts a television broadcast system in which all of the channels have the same bandwidth capacity. This is known as a fixed bandwidth system. FIG. 4 depicts a television broadcast system in which the channels may have different bandwidths. This is known as a variable bandwidth system. The advantage of a variable bandwidth system is that it provides more flexibility in setting up the system. In the specific example of television broadcasting, a system could be set up where certain channels have higher bandwidth (allowing for more information) while other channels have lower bandwidths. The channels with higher bandwidth could be used to transmit stations that contain a lot of information (such as movie channels, where picture and sound quality should be the best). The channels with lower bandwidth could be used to transmit stations that contain less information (such as news channels, or audio only channels, where picture and/or sound quality need not be of the highest quality).
A problem arises, however, in filtering signals in variable bandwidth systems. Most prior art filters are hardwired to filter a certain way. Therefore, most individual prior art filters can only handle fixed bandwidth systems. A variable bandwidth filter can be constructed for a fixed data rate system (a system where the input rate of data never can be changed) by having a construction where it is possible to alter the sampling frequency of the input signal, which in turn would alter the bandwidth of the filter. However, the problem with this is that one cannot lower the sampling frequency below the Nyquist rate (twice the Nyquist frequency, which is the highest input signal frequency) because when the sampling frequency falls below the Nyquist rate, aliasing occurs. Aliasing results in frequencies greater than one-half the sampling rate becoming indistinguishable from frequencies in the fundamental bandwidth (between DC and one-half the sampling rate). Thus, for systems with low bandwidths, which can be quite common, it is necessary to use a plurality of filters to perform the task of one filter.
For example, in a variable bandwidth system with a low data rate where the possible bandwidth sizes are 1 MHz, 2 MHz, and 3 MHz, if one wanted to set up a lowpass filter for the incoming signal, one would have to actually have 3 lowpass filters, one for 1 MHz bandwidths, one for 2 MHz bandwidths, and one for 3 MHz bandwidths. This increase in complexity takes up extra space in a system as well as costs extra money.
What is needed is a way to implement a wide range of filters with one single structure, which is capable of performing filtering in systems with low bandwidths and has the flexibility to work under varying sampling frequencies.

Method and apparatus for digital filtration of signals


The device for the pixel-by-pixel photoelectric measurement of a planar measured object includes projection means for the imaging of the measured object onto a two-dimensional CCD image sensor, filter means provided in the imaging light path for the wavelength selective filtering of the measuring light impinging on the image sensor, signal processing means for the processing of the electrical signals produced by the image sensor and for the conversion thereof into corresponding digital raw measured, as well as data processing means for the processing of the raw measured data into image data representing the colors of the individual image elements of the measured object. Furthermore, illumination means are provided which include a Fresnel lens, which illuminate the measured object with at least one essentially parallel light bundle under an angle of incidence of essentially 45°+/−5°. The projection means which include at least one tele-lens constructed as a Fresnel lens, are constructed as tele-centrical imaging optics, which image each point of the measured object under essentially the same angle of observation of essentially 0° and with essentially the same aperture angle of essentially maximally 5° onto the light converter element array. The data processing means carry out extensive correction measures.

So called scanners are used especially in the graphics industry for the pixel-by-pixel photoelectric scanning of planar measured objects. They include a measuring head which is moveable relative to the measured object in one or two dimensions, which captures the spectral remission of respectively one pixel of the measured object or object to be measured by way of a 0°/45° measurement geometry and converts it into corresponding electric signals. Scanners equipped with fiber optics are also already known, which can measure a complete image line at once. However, scanners which without relative movement between the measurement head and the measured object can measure a larger measurement surface pixel-by-pixel and with sufficient accuracy for the color measurement and under the for the color measurement generally conventional, standardized geometric conditions and are not known.
On the other hand, video cameras are used for the scanning of images or for recording purposes, which are equipped with a two-dimensional image sensor onto which the complete image to be scanned is projected by way of the camera lens so that no relative movement between the camera and the image is required. The image sensor generally consists of a two-dimensional array of light converter elements integrated into a chip, normally on CCD basis (charge coupled devices). Color enabled video cameras either have several image sensors with upstream color filters or an image converter with integrated color filters. The resolution of the scanning is fixed by the number of light converter elements available for each color channel and by the projection scale.
The geometric conditions for the color measurement are defined by international standards. For the normally used 0°/45° measurement geometry the illumination of the measurement surface is to be carried out at 45°+/−5° to the normal of the measurement surface and the remitted measuring light captured at an observation angle of 0°+/−5° to the normal of the measurement surface. The light path can also be selected to be the opposite.
It is an significant problem of the calorimetric measurement by way of a video camera of large surface measured objects that on the one hand the optical projection means cannot be made completely free of geometrical distortions at reasonable cost and produce more or less pronounced reflection images and that on the other hand scattered or adventitious light effects occur between the individual image points of the measured object or object to be measured and are measured as well because of the necessarily missing measurement shutters or other screening devices. Furthermore, especially with larger measured objects or object to be measured, the angle of incidence of the measurement light on the filters used for the spectral splitting is not the same at all image points, whereby spectral errors occur as well.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Device for the pixel-by-pixel photoelectric measurement of a planar measured object


A method for processing an operation interface and a device for displaying an operation interface are provided. By displaying the operation interface with sector menus in hierarchies, a mapping relationship can be established between a previous level menu and a next level menu, such that a user may choose a corresponding option according to a desired operation in use, and the display layout may be in a way of sectors expanding outwardly. Thus, a more concise display may be achieved, a larger range of parameters may be configured, and more application scenarios can be satisfied.

With the development of smart mobile terminals, a mobile terminal may implement not only a simple function of taking photograph and video, but also provide more parameter choices. For example, the mobile terminal may set parameters such as a shooting mode, an image effect, a white balance and the like. However, due to limitations of general human-machine interaction configuration and display window, a user cannot set more parameters related to photographing and video shooting during operation and, thus, requirements for more application scenarios cannot be satisfied.

Operation interface with sector menus in hierarchies, and processing method and display device thereof


There is provided a computer implemented method for detection of likelihood of malignancy in an anatomical image of a patient for planning treatment thereof, comprising: receiving a pair of images that are either of a same patient or from two different patients, wherein the pair of images comprises anatomically corresponding anatomical images each depicting internal anatomical structures of the patient, feeding the pair of images into a model, outputting by the model, an indication of whether the pair of images are of a same patient or not, and generating an indication of likelihood of malignancy when the model wrongly outputs that the pair of images are not of the same patient, when in fact the pair of images are of the same patient, wherein treatment of the patient is planned according to the indication of likelihood of malignancy.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to analysis of medical images and, more specifically, but not exclusively, to systems and methods for detection of likelihood of malignancy in a medical image.
Cancer is a leading cause of death. In an effort to catch cancer at an early stage, cancer screening programs are utilized. Certain body parts are imaged, and the images are manually reviewed by a radiologist for visual findings likely representing malignancy. Automated tools are being developed to aid the radiologists in reviewing the large amount of images generated from such screening programs, for example, by identifying certain images as being likely to depict malignancy. The radiologist may manually review the automatically identified images more closely.

Systems and methods for detecting likelihood of malignancy for a patient using a pair of medical images

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is a method for zinc plating a meter set assembly used in gas delivery applications, wherein a zinc plating is applied to a steel substrate formed in the configuration of a meter bar. Once the zinc plating is applied through electrodeposition, the meter set assembly is then outgassed in an oven as by curing at 425°-475° F. for 20-35 minutes to drive away any gasses that may be trapped within the zinc coating. Following the outgassing process, a polyester powder coating is applied to the external surfaces of the meter bar.

It is well known that natural gas is a clean and relatively inexpensive fuel source. As such, gas distribution systems have been widely installed in various population centers throughout the United States and many other countries of the world. To supply and provide gas service to end users, such as commercial and residential consumers, service pipelines are typically branched from main gas distribution pipelines laid along a utility route, for instance, under a roadway. These service pipelines typically incorporate an above ground shut-off valve, a pressure regulator for stepping down gas pressure to a gas meter, and therefrom the meter is plumbed to a gas inlet connection pipe typically stubbed outwardly from a side wall of the dwelling or facility.
A typical residential gas meter set assembly such as that shown in FIG. 1 may include a formed turned back U-fitting for mounting a pressure regulator, a regulator valve, and a strap defining a spacer bracket secured between such regulator and U-fitting. An example of such a meter set can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,331 to Lyall et al. and assigned to the present assignee, and is incorporated fully herein by reference. The U-fitting is formed from a length of metallic pipe and bent using an appropriate pipe bender to form a radiused U-shaped configuration to define parallel long and short legs, providing an inlet end and outlet end spaced apart and oriented to, in final assembly, locate the pressure regulator relative to the meter (not shown). The inlet end is formed with external threads and the outlet end is formed by a female threaded union fitting.
Traditional manufacture of the residential meter set assembly calls for fabrication of the meter set assembly using steel pipe with "hot headed" ends, bent as required, and welded to a portion of steel bar to maintain spacing and alignment. Following fabrication, the meter set assembly is zinc plated using an electrodeposition process for corrosion protection. U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,400 to Jackson et al. is illustrative of the techniques for applying corrosion resistant coating to a steel residential MSA. However, it has been discovered that bubbles tend to form in the polyester powder top coating due to gases released from the zinc plating bottom coat fabricated meter bar. The bubbles are undesirable from an aesthetics standpoint as it results in an uneven, rough surface, and further has an effect on the corrosion resistance due to increased exposure of the zinc plating to corrosive elements. The art is in need of an improved method that overcomes the shortcomings of the above-described process for manufacturing residential meter MSA bars.

Method of zinc plating and powder coating residential gas meter set assemblies


A fire alarm station pull cover with a rectangular box shape enclosure that is open in the front, back and bottom and has a removable cap. The cover is mounted to a wall fully encasing a fire alarm pull lever. A glass pane resides in grooves on both sides of the apparatus and is supported laterally by said grooves and vertically by a detent at the bottom of each groove. One or a plurality of equi-spaced vertical score marks formed on the pane of glass causes the pane to controllably break into parts when struck by a striker preferably attached by a tether to the cover. The sections of glass fall down and out through the open bottom to expose said pull lever and allow actuation of the lever.

(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fire alarm pull station. In particular, the present invention relates to a fire alarm pull station enclosure which comprises a rectangular metal box having an open front in which a breakable pane of glass is supported.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
It is well known in the art of fire alarm safety devices to use breakable glass fronts in order to gain access to either fire extinguishers, fire hoses or fire alarm pull levers. Generally, there are two types of fire alarm pull stations on which all variations are based. The first "free lever" pull type employs a small glass rod of minimal diameter or a small pane of glass which is shattered upon pull lever activation. The pull lever is not enclosed by a pull station "box". Edwards U.S. Pat. No. 2,083,324 issued Jun. 8, 1937 discloses such a fire alarm pull station in which an exposed pull lever contains a small pane of glass which is shattered upon activation of the pull lever in a downward fashion. The pane of glass only protects actuation of circuitry and does not prevent tampering with the lever.
The second "box enclosure" type has a pull lever enclosed within a rectangular or square box with a breakable glass front. The disadvantages of the free lever type of pull station, namely possible tampering with the pull lever due to unimpeded access, have been substantially overcome by the use of the enclosed pull station. Once the glass front is shattered one gains access to the pull lever. However, there have also been significant disadvantages to the box type pull stations. The first is the impeded access to the lever itself. While this structure was introduced to alleviate concerns with the free lever type pull station, the encasement of the lever, while eliminating some problems, has also created others. One must break the outer pane of glass to actuate the lever located inside the box. At times several blows to the glass pane are required to remove the outer glass and gain access to the lever. This results in lost time which is vitally important to the operator. The second disadvantage to the box type pull station is the safety issue regarding glass fragments remaining attached to the outer metal box. The conventional embodiment of the box type pull station has grooves which surround the pane and provide the pane of glass with stability. Once the pane is shattered, several glass fragments can remain within these grooves and provide a significant safety risk to the user when the user attempts to activate the pull lever. This risk is magnified in that the operator of the device, having discovered a fire, will invariably be under stress and will try to operate the device as quickly as possible. It is a principal object of the present invention to improve upon the latter "box enclosure" fire alarm pull station.


An exhaust system for a vehicle includes a muffler connected to an exhaust pipe, which is in turn connected to an engine. A spark arrester is provided with a tail pipe and connected to the rear end of the muffler, and is capable of discharging an exhaust gas flowing through the muffler through the tail pipe of the spark arrester into the atmosphere. The interior of the muffler can be divided into a plurality of expansion chambers connected by restricting passages by attaching the spark arrester to the muffler to enhance the sound attenuating effect. The interior of the muffler is divided into the plurality of expansion chambers by separators disposed in the muffler and a spark arrester combined with the muffler.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in an exhaust system for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an exhaust system employing a spark arrester provided with a tail pipe and connected to the rear end of a muffler which is connected to an exhaust pipe in order to discharge exhaust gas from the muffler through the tail pipe of the spark arrester and into the atmosphere.
2. Description of the Background Art
A prior art exhaust system provided with a spark arrester for a motorcycle is disclosed in JP-A No. 8-61046. The exhaust system has a spark arrester incorporated into a muffler connected to an exhaust pipe, which is in turn connected to the exhaust port of an engine. A filter is included in the spark arrester which is inserted into an expansion chamber formed in the muffler to attenuate noise generated by the exhaust gas flowing through the muffler, and to arrest unburned components including soot or the like so that the unburned components may not be emitted into the atmosphere.
Usually this prior art exhaust system employs technical means for enhancing the suppression of exhaust noise, which divides the silencing chamber of the muffler into a plurality of expansion chambers, and connects the expansion chambers by restricting passages to deaden the exhaust noise by repeatedly expanding and compressing the exhaust gas while the exhaust gas is flowing through the expansion chambers and the restricting passages. However, additional parts including connecting pipes are necessary to divide the silencing chamber of the muffler into a plurality of expansion chambers and to connect the plurality of expansion chambers by restricting passages. Consequently, the division of the silencing chamber into the plurality of expansion chambers needs an increased number of parts, makes the construction of the exhaust system complicated and increases the cost of the exhaust system.


In one embodiment the present invention includes a method and apparatus for enabling a main core and one or more co-processors to operate in a de-coupled mode, thereby facilitating the execution of two or more instruction threads in parallel. A co-processor, according to an embodiment of the invention, has a coupling manager including a loop buffer for storing instructions which can be independently fetched and executed by the co-processor when operating in de-coupled mode. In addition, the coupling manager includes a loop descriptor and a counter/condition descriptor. The loop descriptor and condition descriptor work in conjunction with one another to determine what, if any, action should be taken when a co-processor is in a particular processing state, for example, as indicated by a counter keeping track of loop processing.

The present invention relates to microprocessors, and in particular, to an apparatus and method for the programmable coupling between a central processing unit (CPU) and one or more co-processors.
Microprocessors based on the ARM architecture typically allow for only a single thread of instruction for any thread or process that is executing at a particular time. Frequently, an ARM microprocessor is implemented to utilize single-instruction issue logic for dispatching instructions down a single processing pipeline. Accordingly, when there are one or more co-processors present, the primary ARM processor (referred to herein as the main core) and the co-processors work serially on the same thread of instruction. This mode of operation is generally referred to as a "coupled" mode of operation, indicating that the one or more co-processors are tightly coupled with the primary processor, or main core. FIG. 1 illustrates an example implementation of a co-processor 10 and an ARM main core 12 configured to operate in coupled mode. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the co-processor is completely dependent upon the main core for receiving instructions (e.g., via instruction path 14) and data (e.g., via load/store path 16).
With single-instruction issue logic, only one instruction gets issued to an instruction pipeline per instruction cycle. With multi-instruction issue logic, it is possible to issue multiple instructions, and hence, more than one processing pipeline may be issued an instruction during a single instruction cycle. However, the nature of a typical application is such that an instruction thread is more likely to occupy one of the co-processors more than the other co-processor(s) or the main core. For instance, consider an ARM main core coupled with a SIMD (single instruction, multiple data integer co-processor, such as a Wireless MMX™ co-processor. While executing the instructions of a video-intensive application, the instructions for performing the video processing are generally executed on the Wireless MMX™ co-processor. Accordingly, most of the instructions execute on the Wireless MMX™ co-processor, and in most of the instruction cycles the main core pipeline is empty or used for loading data to the Wireless MMX™ co-processor. Each instruction cycle for which the main core pipeline has an empty instruction slot (referred to as an idle slot, or stall cycle) represents a processing inefficiency.
FIG. 2 provides a simplified timing diagram to illustrate the general nature of the problem. In FIG. 2, the line designated with reference number 18, going from left to right, represents the passage of time. The line designated with reference number 20 represents the processing of a single instruction thread over a period of time. Specifically, the line designated with reference number 20 indicates whether the main core or the co-processor is actively executing instructions of a particular instruction thread at any given moment in time. For instance, from the beginning (time T=0), the instruction thread (represented by line 20) is being processed by the main core. However, when a particular instruction for the co-processor is encountered, processing of the instruction thread eventually passes to the co-processor. For instance, in FIG. 2 processing passes from the main core to the co-processor at time T=1. During the time that the co-processor is processing the instruction thread, the main core is idle (as indicated by the dotted line designated with reference number 22). Eventually, when the co-processor has completed processing its portion of the instruction thread, processing of the instruction thread will pass back to the main core. For instance, in FIG. 2 processing passes from the co-processor back to the main core at time T=2. As illustrated in FIG. 2, at any particular moment in time, either the main core or the co-processor is idle, thereby introducing inefficiency into the system.
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate tables showing examples of the idle instruction slots that are introduced into a main core pipeline during the processing of a video-intensive application. As illustrated in the table of FIG. 3, each table entry in the column with heading "ARM" represents an instruction slot of a main core pipeline for an instruction cycle corresponding with the particular row of the table entry. Similarly, in the table of FIG. 3, each table entry in the column with heading "Co-Processor" represents an instruction slot of the main core pipeline during an instruction cycle corresponding with the particular row of the table entry. For example, as illustrated in the table of FIG. 3, the row labeled as row 1 (representing instruction cycle 1) indicates that the instruction slot of the main core pipeline corresponding with the main core is empty—indicating a stall cycle—while the instruction slot of the main core pipeline corresponding with the co-processor contains an instruction, "WLDRD wR0, [r0]". From the table shown in FIG. 3, it can be seen that fifty percent of the instruction slots are empty. As such, a video-intensive application executing on an ARM core coupled with a co-processor leaves much to be desired in terms of processing efficiency.
The problem is aggravated ever further when the main core is coupled with multiple co-processors. In FIG. 4, a table showing examples of the idle instruction slots for a main core pipeline of a main core coupled with two co-processors is shown. In particular, a second co-processor representing a data management unit or stream control unit has been added. In this case, the stream control unit processes instructions that "feed" data to the SIMD co-processor, thereby alleviating the main core from this task. As a result, the instruction slot for the main core has even more idle slots. As illustrated in FIG. 4, seventy-eight percent of the instruction cycles of the main core have an idle slot. Again, these idle slots represent a processing inefficiency.

Method and apparatus for programmable coupling between CPU and co-processor


A multiplier circuit comprises a fused Booth encoder multiplexer which produces partial product bits, a tree which uses the partial product bits to generate partial products, and an adder which uses the partial products to generate intermediate sum and carry results for a multiplication operation. The fused Booth encoder multiplexer utilizes encoder-selector cells having a logic tree which carries out a Boolean function according to a Booth encoding and selection algorithm to produce one of the partial product bits at a dynamic node, and a latch connected to the dynamic node which maintains the value at an output node. The encoder-selector cells operate in parallel to produce the partial product bits generally simultaneously. A given one of the encoder-selector cells has a unique set of both multiplier operand inputs and multiplicand operand inputs, and produces a single partial product bit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to data processing systems, more specifically to logic circuits which perform arithmetic functions, and particularly multipliers that use Booth encoders.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data processing systems such as computers or digital signal processors use electronic logic circuits to perform various arithmetic functions including addition, multiplication, etc. These calculations are carried out by an arithmetic logic unit using binary arithmetic. Two common arithmetic logic units are the fixed-point unit and the floating-point unit. A fixed-point unit is used for integer operations, i.e., the source operands for a fixed-point unit are both integers. A floating-point unit is used for non-integer multiplication and division. In order to understand how an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) carries out binary arithmetic, it is useful to understand floating-point notation. Floating-point notation (also referred to as exponential notation) can be used to represent both very large and very small numbers, and thus makes it easier to handle a wide range of arithmetic operations.
A floating-point notation has three parts: a mantissa (or significand), an exponent, and a sign (positive or negative). The mantissa specifies the digits of the number, and the exponent specifies the magnitude of the number, i.e., the power of the base which is to be multiplied with the mantissa to generate the number. For example, using base 10, the number 28330000 would be written as 2833E+4, and the number 0.054565 would be represented as 54565E-6. However, since processors use binary values, an ALU uses 2 as the base (radix). Thus, a number may generally be expressed in binary terms according to the formn=(−1)S×1.F×2E,where n is the floating point number (in base 10), S is the sign of the number (0 for positive or 1 for negative), F is the fractional component of the mantissa (in base 2), and E is the exponent of the radix.
In most conventional computer systems, an integer number is represented with 32 bits or 64 bits. Similarly, a "single precision" floating point number is represented with 32 bits (one word), and a "double-precision" floating point number is represented using a 64-bit (two word) field. In accordance with the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) standard 754, a single-precision floating-point number uses the 32 bits as follows: the first bit indicates the sign (S), the next eight bits indicate the exponent offset by a bias amount of 127 (E+bias), and the last 23 bits indicate the fractional portion (F) of the mantissa. So, for example, the decimal number ten would be represented by the 32-bit binary value                0 10000010 01000000000000000000000as this corresponds to (−1)0×1.012×2130-127=1.25×23=10.
A typical floating-point unit (FPU) has three inputs for receiving three input operands A, B and C, respectively, expressed as floating-point numbers in accordance with the foregoing discussion. The FPU then uses these operands to perform a "multiply-add" instruction, which executes the arithmetic operation ±[(A×C)±B]. The exponent portions of operands A, B and C are provided to an exponent calculator. The mantissa portions of operands A and C are provided to a multiplier unit, while the mantissa portion of operand B is provided to an alignment shifter. A typical fixed-point unit (FXU) operates in a similar manner and also uses a multiplier unit to carry out integer multiplication.
A conventional multiplier unit uses the mantissas of operands A and C and reduces the arithmetic function (A×C) to two intermediate results, known as "sum" and "carry." These intermediate results are passed to an adder/incrementer in arithmetic logic unit (i.e., FXU or FPU). The sum and carry results operate with the exponent calculator and alignment shifter to combine the values with operand B and yield the final result of the multiply-add instruction.
With the current imperatives of energy efficiency and computation throughput, most reduced instruction set computers (RISCs) and digital signal processors (DSPs) use Booth-encoder multipliers to simultaneously address the low-power and high-speed design issues. In general, there are two basic approaches to enhance the speed of multipliers, one is the Booth algorithm and the other is the Wallace tree compressor or counter. The Booth algorithm operates on the principle that multiplication can be considered as a series of repeated additions. The number to be added is the multiplicand, the number of times that it is added is the multiplier, and the result is the product. Each step of the addition process generates a partial product. It is possible to decompose multipliers into two parts. The first part is dedicated to the generation of partial products, and the second one collects and adds them. The Booth algorithm (or a modified Booth algorithm) is used because it reduces the number of partial products. The set of partial product bits is then collected using a Wallace tree.
A typical prior art hardware multiplier 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. A Booth encoder 12 receives the mantissa portion of operand C, and encodes the number according to the Booth algorithm. The encoded values are then forward to a multiplexer or Booth selector 14, which also has as an input the mantissa portion of operand A. Multiplexer 14 calculates the partial product bits for A×C, and then passes on them on to a Wallace tree 16 which combines the bits to generate partial products. The output of Wallace tree 16 feeds a ripple carry adder 18 which uses the partial products to figure the sum and carry results.
An exemplary Booth encoder operates sequentially on three bits of the multiplier operand C in two-bit steps, i.e., C(0 . . . 2), C(2 . . . 4), C(4 . . . 6), and so on. The Booth encoder recodes these three bits into an output value. In one known method, the output is represented as four signals named "1×," "−1×," "2×" and "−2×". Table 1 shows the cell encoding for multiplier bits C(0 . . . 2) as inputs according to this Booth algorithm:
TABLE 1InputOutputC(0 . . . 2)−2x−1x1x2x10010001010100110010011100000000000001001001000100110001Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the output values shown in Table 1 are only for the particular three input bits C(0 . . . 2) and that the outputs from the Booth encoder cells whose inputs are C(2 . . . 4), C(4 . . . 6), etc., are determined by other tables similar to Table 1.
The encoded data (e.g., from Table 1) is used by selector 14 to generate partial sums. Selector 14 is typically arranged in two dimensional arrays, with a given multiplexer cell in the array receiving one set of the output signals from a particular booth encoder, and also receiving two bits of multiplicand operand A by one-bit step, i.e. A(0 . . . 1), A(1 . . . 2), A(2 . . . 3), and so on. For example, one multiplexer cell corresponding to multiplier bits C(0 . . . 2) uses multiplicand operand bits A(1) and A(2), and the four output signals "1×" "2×" "−1×" and "2×" from Table 1. The output signal for that particular multiplexer cell is determined by Table 2:
TABLE 2InputOutput−2x−1x1x2xS1000 A(2)0100 A(1)000000010A(1)0001A(2)Again, the output values in Table 2 are only for the signals representing the particular three multiplier input bits C(0 . . . 2) and two multiplicand input bits A(1 . . . 2), and similar tables will be applied for other multiplexer cells in selector 14.
The construction of multiplier 10 is "pipelined," meaning that one component of the multiplier (e.g., Wallace tree 16) can be operating on a set of data from a first multiplication operation while other components near the front of the pipeline (e.g., Booth encoder 12 and Booth selector 14) are operating on a set of data from a subsequent multiplication operation, during the same processing cycle. While pipelining improves computational efficiency, Booth encoder 12 is still in the critical path of the multiplier dataflow, and can often slow down the effective clock frequency of the processor and increase computation latency. A bottleneck can result when the encoded data from a Booth encoder must be distributed to the multiplexer. This problem becomes more critical as the clock frequency increases, particularly above a few gigahertz.
Booth-encoder multipliers are also poorly fashioned in terms of physical layout, i.e., circuit design of an integrated circuit (IC) chip. As illustrated in the floor plan of FIG. 2A, a typical Booth encoder design puts a gap in the multiplier layout, creating wires of uneven length (in the illustrated design, the Booth encoder is adapted for double-precision floating-point operations, and utilizes 53 bits). An alternative layout illustrated in FIG. 2B has a column of Booth encoder cells at one side of the design; in this layout, the Booth encoder must further rely on additional transistor circuitry to drive long wires on the IC chip.
In light of the foregoing, it would be desirable to devise an improved Booth encoder multiplier which could reduce the latency between the encoding and multiplexer stages of the multiplier. It would be further advantageous if the multiplier could eliminate the need for a gain tree after the Booth encoding that is currently required to drive long interconnection wires.


A substituted monoethylglycinexylidide or analogue is disclosed. The xylidide or analogue has the structure of FIG. 1 of the attached drawings where M is CH.sub.2 NHCH.sub.2 CH.sub.3, CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.3 or CH.sub.2 OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.3, one of Y.sup.1 and Y.sup.2 is H and the other is a protein or a fluorescein moiety chemically bonded to the glycinexylidide or analogue moiety. Also disclosed is a method for carrying out immunoassays for MEGX, which has the structure of FIG. 3 of the attached drawings. The method for carrying out immunoassays involves using the foregoing compounds as tracers and immunogens.

The MEGX derivatives and analogues of the invention are believed to be new compounds.
It is known that fluorescence polarization immunoassays can be used for determining levels of biologically interesting moieties such as valproic acid in serum, plasma, urine and the like, being disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,089, granted to Wang et al. on Jun. 3, 1986. The patent discloses, by way of example, a method for determining levels of valproic acid in samples which involves mixing with the samples a biologically acceptable salt of 2-ethyl-5-aminopentanoic acid-5-[(4,6-dichlorotriazin-2-yl)-amino]-fluorescein conjugate as a tracer, and sheep antiserum to valproic acid as an antibody which recognizes both the valproic acid and the tracer. The valproic acid (a ligand) and the tracer both form complexes with the antibody; the concentrations of tracer and of antibody are both kept constant so that the ratio of ligand-antibody complex to tracer-antibody complex that is formed is directly proportional to the amount of ligand present in the sample. Therefore, upon exciting the mixture with fluorescent light and measuring the polarization of the fluorescence emitted by the tracer and the tracer-antibody complex, it is possible to determine the amount of ligand in the sample by fluorescence polarization techniques.
Fluorescence polarization techniques, as is disclosed in the aforesaid Wang et al. patent, involve determining the polarization of fluorescence of several samples, some known and some unknown, preparing a standard curve showing polarization as a function of concentration from the data for the known samples, and then using the standard curve to determine the concentration of the unknown samples from the measured polarization.
It is also known that certain aminomethylfluoresceins can be used as tracers in using fluorescence polarization techniques to determine levels of biologically interesting moieties such as valproic acid in serum, plasma, urine and the like. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,251, granted to Kirkemo et al. on Apr. 9, 1985, discloses a method for determining levels of estriol and of cortisol in samples which involves mixing with the samples estriol carboxymethyloxime aminomethylfluorescein and cortisol-3-carboxymethyloxime aminomethylfluorescein, respectively, as tracers, and antiserum raised against estriol and antiserum raised against cortisol, respectively, as antibodies, and then determining the amount of tracer-antibody conjugate by fluorescence polarization techniques.
It has also been disclosed (Oellerich et al.: "Monoethylglycinexylidide formation and liver function, J.Clin.Chem Biochem./Vol. 25, 1987/No. 12) that fluorescence polarization immunoassay techniques can be used to determine MEGX in serum and in urine, and that measurements of the content of MEGX in serum from venus blood following an intravenous lidocaine bolus (which has the structure of FIG. 2 of the attached drawing) injection can provide a reliable indication of liver function. The reference does not disclose the identity of the reagents used for the immunoassay, stating only that they were provided for investigational use by Abbott Laboratories, the assignee of the subject invention.

Derivatives and anologs of monoethylglycinexylidide


Indicator lights of an appliance are used for optical communication with a diagnostic tool through a communication probe. The indicator lights of the appliance are arranged in at least two groups. One indicator light is selected from one group of indicator lights to operate as an optical transmitter and another indicator light is selected from the other group of indicator lights to operate as an optical receiver. Preferably, the two selected indicator lights are in proximity to one another so the communication probe for the diagnostic tool may be more compactly designed.

Appliance devices such as dishwashers, clothing washing machines, dryers, ovens, refrigerators and the like often include electrical control circuits. Such control circuits receive input from the user and control the operation of the appliance device based on the received input. In many cases, the overall operation of the appliance is predefined as a general matter and the user input merely modifies the predefined operation in some way.
For example, the operation of a dishwasher typically involves the processes of filling, washing, draining and rinsing. Such operations involve, among other things, the control of water valves, detergent valves and motor relays. The general sequence of such operations is generally predefined. However, user input may be used to alter the sequence, or to define certain parameters of the sequence. For example, the user input may define whether the wash cycle is normal, light, or heavy. Although the general sequence does not necessarily change dependent upon wash cycle selection, the length of certain processes within the sequence does change.
A typical user input interface for a dishwasher includes a rotary knob and a plurality of pushbutton switches. The rotary knob is attached to a cam that controls the sequence of operations within the dishwasher. The cam has a number of followers that trigger the operation of the various dishwasher components. The cam followers are positioned to cause various operations to be executed in a "programmed" sequence. The user selects a particular cycle by rotating the knob to particular position associated with the selected cycle. Upon actuation, the cam begins to rotate automatically started from the user selected position, performing each operation as defined on the cam "program" from the user-selected point forward. The pushbutton switches are used to activate/deactivate various options that are not available through the cam program. For example, pushbutton switches may be used to selectively activate a heated dry cycle, a delayed start, or a high temperature wash.
More recently, electronic controllers, for example, microprocessors and microcontrollers, have replaced the rotary cam control device. The use of electronic controllers provides flexibility and features not typically available in cam control devices. Moreover, as a general matter, replacement of moving parts, such as electromechanical rotating cams, typically increases reliability in products.
However, the use of electronic controllers has added to the complexity of servicing appliances. Small electronic integrated circuits do not lend themselves to the methods of troubleshooting and repair that have historically been used with mechanical and electromechanical devices. Accordingly, malfunctions in an electronically controlled appliance are more difficult to diagnose and resolve than those of the old, mechanical cam controlled devices.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/264,888, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses a diagnostic tool that utilizes an optical transmitter and an optical receiver in a communication probe for bidirectional communication with an appliance controller through an indicator light of the appliance control panel and an optical detector on an external panel of the appliance. The ability to obtain data information from an electronic controller may be used to obtain diagnostic, operational, or test data from the controller regarding the operation of the appliance.
The con figuration of the optical communication probe depends upon which indicator lights are used for optical transmission and reception. If the optical transmitter and receiver of the probe are mounted within the same housing, the housing needs to be configured so the optical transmitter and receiver may be aligned with the indicator lights operating as an optical receiver and transmitter, respectively. Consequently, a need exists for selection of the indicator lights in an arrangement that enables efficient design of the communication probe.
Another issue related to the use of indicator lights for optical communication with the diagnostic tool arises from the control of the indicator lights as optical communication devices. Typically, indicator lights are arranged on the control panel of an appliance proximate the indicia corresponding to each indicator light. Furthermore, the indicator lights are electronically coupled to the microcontroller so the controller may operate each light in accordance with the ongoing operation of the appliance. When two of the indicator lights are operated as an optical receiver and transmitter, the microcontroller needs to monitor the control signals for enabling operation of the indicator lights as optical communication devices in a way that does not interfere with either the transmission or reception of optical signals. Therefore, a need exists for facilitating control of the indicator lights operating as optical communication devices.

Method and apparatus for independent control of low intensity indicators used for optical communication in an appliance


Process for treating a gas comprising one or more constituents to be separated, wherein the gas to be processed (G) is mixed at least partly with a solvent S selected to selectively retain at least part of the gas constituents to be separated, the mixture of gas (G) and of solvent (S) is cooled by circulating in at least one heat exchange zone so as to obtain, at the outlet of said heat exchange zone, at least a gas phase (G.sub.1) depleted in at least one of the constituents to be separated and a solvent phase (S.sub.1) enriched in said constituents, said enriched solvent phase (S.sub.1) is separated from said gas phase (G.sub.1) and it is recycled to the heat exchange zone in order to cool said gas-solvent mixture (stage b), said solvent phase (S.sub.1) consisting, at the outlet of the heat exchange zone, of at least a gas phase (G.sub.2) enriched in the constituents to be separated and of a liquid solvent phase (S), the gas phase (G.sub.2) and the liquid solvent phase (S) from stage (c) are separated and the solvent phase at least freed of the constituent(s) is recycled to the initial mixing stage.

A gas produced in an industrial plant, for example from a refinery, can comprise constituents that are considered to be unwanted during the transportation and/or the use thereof. Such constituents are, by way of non limitative example, acid gases such as CO.sub.2, or H.sub.2 S, or an inert gas such as nitrogen.
A commonly used processing method consists in carrying out an absorption stage by bringing the gas to be processed into countercurrent contact with a solvent in a column, the solvent allowing notably to extract selectively one or more constituents contained in the gas, then in regenerating the solvent by distillation under reduced pressure. Such a method of operation, detailed in FIG. 1, is more particularly suited to remove impurities or at least to separate one or more constituents present in relatively small amounts in the gas. It consists in precooling the gas to be processed and in using a solvent at low temperature to carry out the absorption stage. However, such a process can become costly when the constituent content is high, on account of the necessity of circulating and of distilling large amounts of solvent with a high content of constituents to be separated from the gas to be processed. In fact, distillation of the solvent is generally a relatively expensive operation which requires heating the column at the bottom and cooling it at the top.
A new gas processing method which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art and which notably allows to decrease the solvent processing cost and the amount necessary to process the gas has been discovered. Such a process is particularly well-suited when the gas constituent(s) is or are present in relatively large proportions.

Process and device for treating a gas by refrigeration and contact with a solvent