A lever, pivoted to a pair of brackets which protrude from the boot, is constituted by a hollow central body which is pivoted to the lever body and is internally threaded complementarily with respect to a pawl with which at least one traction element is associated. A cover is furthermore slidably associated with the hollow central body and interacts with a bellows for forcing the cover into abutment with the pawl. Thus, a rotation imparted to the pawl, for example by means of the traction element, is followed by a movement of the cover which allows the skier to immediately visualize the degree of adjustment of the tension which can be imparted to the traction element.

The present invention relates to a lever device particularly usable in ski boots.
Several devices are known for closing the quarters of the ski boots such as levers having one end pivoted to a pair of brackets which protrude from a plate associated with a flap of the boot; these levers are usually provided with an array of equidistant teeth.
The end of a ring, which is associated with another flap to be fastened, can be engaged on the teeth.
These known devices allow a rough adjustment by engaging the ring with the teeth defined on the lever, but have the considerable disadvantage of forcing the skier, every time he puts the boot on, to look again for the exact position of the ring on the teeth of the lever in order to achieve the preferred degree of closure of the boot.
One should in fact bear in mind that ski boots usually have more than one lever, so that the skier should be able to memorize the different positions of the ring at the selected teeth for each of the levers, and this is certainly not easy.
Closure devices are also known in which an arm is articulated to the lever and has a hook-like element to which it is possible to impart a preset movement along the axis which is longitudinal to the arm; the ring engages at adapted seats defined on an anchoring plate which is associated with the other flap to be closed.
Even this known solution, disclosed in the German patent no. 2157948 filed on Nov. 23, 1971, which claims a Swiss priority dated Nov. 25, 1970, has the disadvantage of not allowing an effective and simple visualization of the degree of micrometric adjustment selected by the skier.
The above closure device can furthermore jam because of the possible introduction of snow, and therefore because of icing of the region provided with the means for adjusting the sliding of the hook element longitudinally with respect to the arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,611, filed on Jan. 24, 1977, discloses a lever which is articulated to a pair of brackets protruding from a plate associated with a flap and to which an intermediate element is pivoted. The intermediate element has a threaded stem with which a pawl is selectively associable; a ring element is articulated to one end of the pawl and can be arranged at an adapted rack which can be associated with the other flap to be moved closer.
Even this described solution has the disadvantage of not allowing an effective and simple visualization of the degree of micrometric adjustment selected by the user, forcing the user to repeat the closing operation several times in order to check the optimum degree of fastening achieved during the previous use of the boot.


Each of a plurality of host devices sharing one disk device with each other includes a disk cache. When one of the host devices writes data in a cache included therein, it sends information that the data has been written in the cache, to the shared disk device and the other host devices. The shared disk device retains the sent information, while each of the other host devices erases the data of a corresponding block from its cache. When the other host device reads the data of the block, there is a cache miss, so that the other host device requests the shared disk device to transmit the data of the block. The shared-disk device transmits the block into the cache of the host device having requested the transmission of the block, based on information retained in an internal register of the shared-disk device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique, in a system wherein a plurality of host devices share an external storage device, for maintaining coherency between the external storage device and a cache included in each of the host devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
To balance the access time of a memory and magnetic disk unit, a disk cache is prepared for retaining, in the memory, a portion of data stored on a disk. For example, in response to an instruction for reading data on the disk, if the corresponding data exists in the disk cache, a processor of a system having the disk cache reads out the data from the disk cache, without reading the data from the disk, thereby improving the average access time.
A disk is shared by a plurality of host devices, and a disk cache may be included in each of the host devices. Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publications Nos. S61-173355 and S64-76345 disclose a technique for including a disk cache in each of a plurality of host devices that share a disk. In the technique of the former publication, data stored in the disk cache included in each of the host devices is to be read only, not updated, and hence no problem should occur in the coherency between each of the disk caches and the shared disk.
In the technique of the latter publication, data is written into the disk cache of each of the host devices, and the following control processing is performed for maintaining the coherency between each of the disk caches and the shared disk. In the case where one host device is to write data in its disk cache, the host device informs another host device about the writing of data, and reserves the shared disk. At the time the one host device writes data into the disk cache therein, the one host device writes the data into the shared disk, and erases the data of the same block retained in the disk cache of the other host devices.
In this conventional technique, in the case where data is written sequentially in successive areas of a disk cache in one host device, the above-described control processing for maintaining the coherency is required, each time the data is written to one address. In this conventional technique, the overhead of the process for maintaining the coherency is large, and hence there is a problem that the average access time for accessing a file is quite long.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a technique for reducing an average access time for each of a plurality of host devices to access data, while maintaining coherency between a cache included in each of the host devices and an external storage device which is shared by the plurality of host devices.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an external-storage sharing system including a plurality of host devices and an external storage device which is connected to each of the host devices, and each of the host devices has a cache retaining a portion of data stored in the external storage device.
Furthermore, in a case where data is written in its own cache, each of the host devices informs any of the other host devices and the external storage device that the data is to be written and informs them about information representing a block including the data to be written. In a case where reading or writing data of the block of any one of the plurality of host devices, each of the host devices requess the external storage device to transmit the data of the block, and after the data of the block is written back into the external storage device in response to this request, reads or writes the data. In a case where transmission of data is requested from any one of the host devices, the external storage device writes back the data of the block from the cache of one of the host devices having informed that the data has been written and transmits the data of the block to the cache of one of the host devices having requested the transmission of the data, after the data of the block is written back into the external storage device.
In the above external-storage sharing system, even if data is written in the cache of one of the host devices, the data is written in the disk device only when the data of a corresponding block is required by another one of the host devices. In the case where data is written to successive addresses in one host device, there is no need to write the latest data in the external storage device.
In the case where the data of the block is required by the another one of the host devices, the data is read or written after the data stored in the external storage device is updated. Hence, there should be no coherency problem between the external storage device and the cache of each of the host devices. That is, in the external-storage sharing system of this invention, while maintaining the coherency therebetween, a reduction in the average access time can be realized.
In the external-storage sharing system according to the first aspect of the present invention, each of the host devices may also erase the data of the block included in its own cache, in a case where any of the other host devices informs each of the host devices to write the data of the block.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an external-storage sharing system including a plurality of host devices and an external storage device, which is connected to each of the host devices and stores data in a unit of blocks. Each of the plurality of host devices includes a cache retaining data of a part of entire blocks included in the external storage device, a first memory storing a first program for reading and writing data stored in the external storage device and a second program for maintaining coherency between the external storage device and the cache of each of the host devices, and a processor for executing the first and second programs stored in the first memory.
The second program, in a case where data to be written in accordance with the first program is retained in the cache included in a corresponding one of the host devices, writes the data to be written in the cache in the corresponding one of the host devices, and informing any other host device and the external storage device that writing of the data is performed. In addition, the second program also requests the external storage device to transmit the data of the block, in a case where data of a block including data that is informed from any other host device in accordance with the first program is to be read. Finally, the second program reads data from the cache included in the corresponding one of the host devices, after storing the data of the block which is transmitted from the external storage device in response to the request for transmission of the data.
The external storage device includes a second memory storing a third program for maintaining coherency between the external storage device and the cache of each of the host devices, and a processor executing the third program stored in the second memory. The third program manages information representing whether data of each block which is stored in the external storage device is the latest data, in accordance with the information for writing data and which is sent from each of the host devices; and transmits the latest data as requested data of a corresponding block to a corresponding host device which has sent the request, in response to a request for transmission of data from any one of the host devices.
In the external-storage sharing system according to the second aspect of the present invention, the second program may also erase a block including the data from the cache included in a corresponding host device, in a case where any other one of the plurality of host devices informs that writing of data is performed, and the request for transmission of data, in case of data reading, may request the external device to transmit the data of the block, in a case where data to be read is erased from the cache included in the corresponding host device.
In the external-storage sharing system according to the second aspect, the second program may also request the external storage device to transmit the data of the block in a case where data of a block is to be written including data which is informed from any other host device in accordance with the first program, and write data to be written into the cache included in a corresponding host device, after storing the data of the block which is transmitted from the external storage device in response to the requesting of the transmission of the data, in the cache in the corresponding one of the host devices.
In the external-storage sharing system according to the second aspect, the second program may also erase a block including the data from the cache included in the corresponding host device, in a case where any other host device informs that writing of data is performed. In this case, the request for transmission of data may request the external storage device to transmit the data of the block, in a case where data to be written has been erased from the cache of the corresponding one of the plurality of host devices.
In the external-storage sharing system according to the second aspect, the third program may also determine whether data of a corresponding block which is retained in the external storage device is latest data, in a case where transmission of data is requested from one of the plurality of host devices, request one of the host devices which has a cache retaining the latest data to transmit the data of the block, in a case where it is determined that the data is not the latest data, and store in the external storage device the data of the block that is transmitted from the host device having requested the transmission of the data in response to the requesting of transmission of the data.
In this case, transmitting data to the host device having requested the transmission of the data may be executed upon transmission of the data of the block from the host device having requested the transmission, and the second program may also transmit the data of a corresponding block which is retained in the cache included in the corresponding one of the plurality of host devices, in a case where transmission of data is requested from the external storage device in accordance with the third program.
In the external-storage sharing system according to the second aspect, the external storage device and the plurality of host devices may be connected to each other through a network, and may transmit and receive data to and from each other through a network.
In the external-storage sharing system according to the second aspect, the external storage device may be a hard disk device, for example.
In the external-storage sharing system according to the second aspect, the cache may be prepared in a portion of the first memory included in each of the host devices.
In order to achieve the above object according to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a host device which shares an external storage device storing data in a unit of blocks with at least one host device. This host device includes a cache which retains data of a part of entire blocks included in the external storage device; a memory which stores a first program for reading and writing data stored in the external storage device and a second program for maintaining coherency between the external storage device and the host device; and a processor which executes the first and second programs stored in the memory. The second program writes data to be written in the cache included in the processor, in a case where data to be written in accordance with the first program is retained in the cache included in the memory of the host device; and informs at least one host device and the external storage device that the writing of the data is performed. It also requests the external storage device to transmit the data of the block, in a case where data of a block including data is to be read, which is informed from the one host device in accordance with the first program , and reads data to be read out from the cache included in the memory of the host device after storing the data of the block which is transmitted from the external storage device in response to the request for transmission of the data.
In the host device, the second program may further include a step of erasing a block including the written data from the cache included in the memory of the host device in a case where the at least one host device informs that writing of data is performed. In this case, the request for the transmission of data may request the external storage device to transmit data of a corresponding block, in a case where the data to be read is erased from the cache included in the memory of the host device.
In the host device, the second program may also request the external storage device to transmit the data of the block in a case where data of a block including data that is informed from the one host device in accordance with the first program is to be written; and write data to be written in the cache included in the memory of the host device after storing in the cache the data of the block transmitted from the external storage device in response to the request for the transmission of the data.
In the host device, the second program may also erase a block including the data from the cache included in the memory of the host device, in a case where the one host device informs that writing of data is performed. In this case, the request for the transmission of data requests the external storage device to transmit the data of the block in a case where data to be written has been erased from the cache included in the memory of the host device.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for use in a system for sharing an external storage device between a plurality of host devices each having a cache for maintaining coherency between the external storage device and the cache included in each of the host devices. The method includes informing the external storage device and any other one of the host devices that the data is to be written in the cache and about information regarding a block including the data to be written, in a case where to write data in the cache of an arbitrary one of the plurality of host devices; requesting, in one of the plurality of host devices the external storage device to transmit the data of the block in a case where to read or write data of the block which is written and has already been informed from the arbitrary one of the plurality of host devices; writing back in the external storage device the data of the block from the cache of the arbitrary one of the host devices having informed about the writing of data in a case where transmission of data is requested, reading or writing the data in the any other one of the plurality of host devices, after the data of the block is written back into the external storage device; and transmitting the data of the block from the external storage device into the cache of the other one of the host devices having requested the transmission of the data, after the data of the block has been written back thereinto.
The above-described method may further include erasing the data of the block inside the cache included in the arbitrary one of the plurality of host devices, in a case where the information is sent by any other of the host devices.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable recording medium which records a program executed in each of a plurality of host devices so as to maintain coherency between a cache included in each of host devices and an external storage device. The program writes data to be written into the cache included in a corresponding one of the host devices and informs any other of the host devices that the writing of the data is performed, in a case where the data to be written is retained in the cache included in the corresponding one of the plurality of host devices, The program also requests the external storage device to transmit the data of the block in a case where data of a block including data which is written and informed by the other one of the host devices to be transmitted, and reads data to be read from the cache included in the corresponding one of the plurality of host devices, after storing the data of the block transmitted from the external storage device in response to the request for transmission of the data.
In the recording medium, the program may also include erase the block of the data from the cache of the corresponding one of the plurality of host devices in a case where the other one of the host devices informs that the writing of data is performed. In this case, the request for transmission of data may request the external storage device to transmit data of a block, in a case where the data to be read has been erased from the cache included in the corresponding one of the plurality of host devices.
In the recording medium, the program may also request the external storage device to transmit the data of the block in a case where data of a block including data which is written and informed by the other one of the host devices is to be transmitted, and write data to be written in the cache of the corresponding one of the plurality of host devices, after storing, into the cache of the corresponding one of the plurality of host devices, the data of the block transmitted from the external storage device in response to the requesting of transmission of the data.
In the recording medium, the program may also erase the data of the block from the cache of the corresponding host device, in a case where the other one of the host devices informs that writing of data is performed. In this case, the request for the transmission of data requests the external storage device to transmit data of a block, in a case where the data to be written has been erased from the cache of the corresponding one of the plurality of host devices.

Technique for maintaining coherency between shared-disk and disk caches


The invention also relates to a method of recovering the gallium contained in an aqueous solution of strongly alkaline sodium aluminate by chemical exchange between a stationary phase consisting of a microporous adsorbent resin impregnated with 7-(alkyl or alkenyl)-8-hydroxyquinoline and the aqueous phsae of sodium aluminate. According to the invention, the dry resin prior to its impregnation has a specific surface area measured by the BET method which is at least equal to 450 sq.m/g of resin, a pore volume at least equal to 1500 cu.mm/g of resin, a mean pore diameter comprised between 80 and 500 .ANG. with at least 80% of this volume consisting of pores with a diameter comprised between 40 and 5000 .ANG., a rate of expansion of swelling in an aqueous medium which does not exceed 20% and in that it is impregnated with 7-(alkyl or alkenyl)-8-hydroxyquinoline in the proportion of 250 to 350 g/liter of dry resin.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to methods for extracting gallium from gallium containing solutions.
2. Discussion of the Background
Gallium is known for its low melting temperature, making it possible to produce alloys having a low melting point. Gallium has for some years been the object of considerably regained interest in particular because of the development of gallium arsenide for the electronics industry. This material is preferred to silicon as a semi-conductor in certain quite specific applications.
At the present time, a considerable part of the available gallium is obtained from Bayer liquors which are solutions of sodium aluminate resulting from the sodium hydroxide attack on bauxite. The Bayer process is a well-known process in the manufacture of aluminum trihydrate. However, despite the relatively high content of 200 to 600 mg gallium per liter of liquor in these solutions, the presence of large quantitites of aluminum makes it difficult to selectively recover gallium therefrom. The chemical properties of aluminum and gallium are very closely related. Other impurities which are soluble in a highly alkaline medium further exacerbate the problem. These are, e.g., vanadate, zincate, ferrate, molybdate.
Electrolysis over a mercury cathode has been the only process used when the quantitites of gallium to be extracted were small. But with the increasing need for this material and the problems posed by handling large quantities of mercury, there has been a movement towards liquid/liquid extraction processes, particularly those using 8-hydroxyquinoline, also known as oxine. The complex of oxine with gallium has the advantageous characteristic of being only soluble in chlorinated solvents.
Substantial progress in the development of these processes has been achieved with the appearance on the market of 8-hydroxyquinolines substituted in the seventh position, generally referred to by the term 7-(alkyl or alkenyl)-8-hydroxyquinoline, particularly those manufactured by ASHLAND OIL CO. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,711). This group of gallium complexing agents makes it possible to use non-chlorinated solvents.
At the same time, the problems of improving the kinetics of liquid/liquid extraction of gallium has been studied by RHONE-POULENC CO. For example, significant progress has been made by increasing the exchange surface areas between the extraction agent 7-alkenyl-8-hydroxyquinoline and the alkaline solution containing the gallium by the formation of a microemulsion (EP 0102280 and EP 0102882).
However, because considerable volumes of extraction agent and solvent are involved in this liquid/liquid extraction process and these have to be regenerated to make this extraction of gallium contained in the Bayer liquor industrially feasible, several schemes have been undertaken to extract the gallium with ion exchange resins. For instance, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL CO. has suggested extracting gallium with a resin comprising as an active group an amide-oxime function. Although apparently more appealing than liquid/liquid extraction, this process has proved to be very difficult to carry out because of the fragility of the amide-oxime groups and because the resin degrades during the successive elution cycles with an acid medium to release the gallium fixed onto the resin.
MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL INDUSTRY CO., in a Japanese Kokai patent application 60 42234/85 corresponding to Derwent ascension No. No. 85-095264, has proposed impregnating adsorbent macroporous polymer based resins with complexing agents of the 7-alkenyl-8hydroxyquinoline group, demonstrating that it was possible to fix small quantities of gallium in solution on the stationary phase. The gallium is then eluted with conventional mineral acids. However, this patent remains silent about the capacities of these resins, more precisely in terms of the gallium batches which one can hope to fix. On the other hand, all the extraction tests described have been carried out on the basis of highly diluted sodium aluminate solution, excluding any direct application of the method to Bayer industrial liquors.
Quite recently, in a communication delivered to the I.S.E.C. in Munich, in September 1986, Cote and Bauer reported having carried out studies of various adsorbent resins sold under the generic name of AMBERLITE XAD (Amberlite XAD is a trade:mark of Rohm and Haas) impregnated with 7-(5,5,7,7-tetramethyl-oct-1-en-3-yl)-8-hydroxyquinoline sold under the trade name of "KELEX"(KELEX is a trademark of Ashland Chemical Co.) The effect of various parameters such as the quantity of extraction agent or complexing agent fixed onto the resin, the concentrations of gallium, aluminum and sodium hydroxide, the chemical nature of the adsorbent resin and the effect of additives likely to activate the kinetics were studied.
From these studies, it emerges that fixing capacities in excess of 3 grams of gallium per liter of resin have been obtained with semi-polar AMBERLITE XAD7 resin having an acrylic ester skeleton. But these fixing capacities were obtained with sodium aluminate solutions having gallium concentrations which were at least five times greater than those of industrial liquors. This excludes any possibility of applying the process to industrial liquors, their concentration of gallium, in any event, not being amenable to modification.
For Bauer and Cote, the chemical nature of the adsorbent resin was far more important than its texture (active surface measured by the BET method, porosity, pore size distribution), since the authors have came to a conclusion in favor of the superiority of the adsorbent resins with an aliphatic acrylic ester chain (AMBERLITE XAD7) over adsorbent resins with a polystyrene-type aromatic nucleus (AMBERLITE XAD2), which was reported to be unsuitable.
There is therefore a need for an industrial process for recovering gallium by directly passing Bayer liquor over a resin, which requires neither prior dilution nor concentration of the liquor, while ensuring the fixing of at least 3 grams of gallium per liter of resin without rapid degradation of the stationary phase.

Process for extracting gallium from bayer liquors using an impregnated absorbent resin


A switching power converter circuit comprises an inductor arranged to receive input energy from an input circuit node; a switch circuit coupled to the inductor; a load current sensing circuit element coupled to a regulated circuit node and an output circuit node; a compensation circuit coupled to a compensation circuit node; a control circuit coupled to the compensation circuit node and the switch circuit, the control circuit configured to modulate activation of the switch circuit to regulate a voltage at the regulated circuit node; and a feedforward circuit coupled to the load current sensing circuit element and the compensation circuit, and configured to adjust modulation of the switch circuit according to sensed load current.

Electronic systems can include devices that require a regulated power source. Power converter circuits can be used to provide a regulated voltage to a load. A large step change in current at the load of a power converter circuit may cause the regulated output voltage to exceed the desired regulation range. This may negatively affect the operation of the load device.

Load current feedforward schemes for current-mode controlled power converters


The present invention relates to a roof system for installation on an existing roof. The existing roof has a plurality of open web steel joists with an existing metal deck thereon. The roof system includes a plurality of deck straps, a roof deck and roofing and insulation. The plurality of deck straps are attached to the open web steel joist through the existing metal deck. The deck straps have a plurality of alternating lower portions and upper portions. The lower portions are attached to the open web steel joist. The upper portions extend upwardly of the existing metal deck. The roof deck is attached to the upper portions of the continuous deck strap. The roofing and insulation is attached to the roof deck.

The use of steel roof decks on flat or low slope roofing is intended to perform four primary functions, namely distribution of loads such as snow, rain and wind, diaphragm action for structural purposes, a support element for the waterproofing and insulating components and fire protection for those waterproofing elements.
However, should there be a compromise of the waterproofing, deterioration of the steel occurs either through leaching of corrosive materials or simple rusting. Whether the decking is corrosion resistant coated (e.g. galvanized or painted) or not only affects the time for occurrence, once the decking if corroded its primary functions are compromised and therefore must be corrected.
To date the means of correcting the situations is to either remove the damaged decking and install new decking in its place or place new decking directly over the damaged decking. This also entails a varying degree of removal of the waterproofing and insulation layers. Each of those means has problems.
Removing of the decking requires restricted access to the building areas directly below the roof for safety reasons. There is also a great deal of debris and potential fire hazards created in such removal and replacement. Business costs are substantial. Additionally any services located on the underside of the deck must be disconnected and/or relocated. Re-roof production time is substantially increased, thereby resulting in higher contract costs as well as high business loss costs.
If, as a solution, new decking is placed directly over the corroded deck then the continuation of the corrosion or rust into the new decking will occur. The time of occurrence is dependent on the type and quality of protective coating or paint applied between the new and existing decking.
Accordingly it would be advantageous to provide a re-roofing system that can be installed without completely removing the existing roofing system.

Re-roofing system and a method of installation


A thermal printer has a memory for storing printing patterns; a printer unit on which a thermal printing head having one line of dot print elements is replaceably mounted, the printer unit driving the printing head to print a printing pattern stored in the memory in a unit of one line; and a paper feed unit for feeding paper in a direction perpendicular to a direction of a print element line of the printing head. A first timer is provided for setting a print cycle for the printing head; and a second timer is provided for setting a feed cycle for feeding paper to the printing head at a selected speed. A controller concurrently drives the printer unit in the print cycle and the paper feed unit in the feed cycle, the controller driving the printer unit to cause the printing head to print in a print cycle while the paper feed unit is driven to continuously feed paper to the printer unit at the selected speed determined by the feed cycle set by the second timer. The controller adjusts at least one of the first and second timers to thereby adjust at least one of the print cycle and feed cycle, in such a manner that the length of the paper feed per printing line is equal to a print element pitch of the printing head.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a thermal printer which effects printing by using a thermal head comprised of a line of print elements, and more particularly, to a thermal printer for issuing labels including bar codes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, many retail shops use labels which are affixed on articles such as foodstuffs and other daily sundries and which are indicative of information pertaining to articles, to simplify sales transactions. A typical label indicates the name and price of an article in characters and its code in a bar code. In a sales transaction, a key input operation to a cash register may be omitted by utilizing a bar code scanner. By causing labels affixed on articles to be sold to one customer to be successively faced to the bar code scanner by the cash register operator, the bar code scanner reads bar codes from the labels and inputs the article codes represented by the bar codes into the cash register. The cash register registers articles specified by the article codes fed by the bar code scanner and figures out the sum total of the registered articles.
A thermal printer which has been in use for issuing labels of the type mentioned includes a thermal printing head comprising of one line of dot-print elements and issues a label by printing, as shown in FIGS. 1A or 1B, characters and a bar code on a label sheet which is fed in a direction tangent to the direction of the print-elements line. As is well known, a bar code is made up of a combination of element bars, i.e., thin bars and thick bars and must be printed out in a manner meeting the standards on the bar code, which regulate as minimum requirements the length of an element bar, a minimum permissible value of the width of the element bar, and a ratio between the widths of the thick and thin bars.
Where a bar code is printed as shown in FIG. 1A, the widths of the element bars are dependent on the dot-print density of the printing head, i.e., the pitch of the print elements. For this reason, the print elements of the printing head need to be arrayed with a pitch that satisfies the requirements of the standards applicable to the type of bar codes to be printed. Assuming that an appropriate printing head is selected, printing in the format shown in FIG. 1B must be considered. In the FIG. 1B situation, the widths of the element bars are dependent upon the length of a label sheet that is moved forward during a sequence of printing head drive cycles, in other words, a rate of feed of the sheet. The above standards must be satisfied by the same conditions as in the case of FIG. 1A, so that the paper feed mechanism is designed to feed the sheet by the length equal to the pitch of the print elements of the printing head selected each time the printing head is driven.
A variety of bar codes are used worldwide today, examples of which include JAN, UPC, CODE39 and NW7. The bar code standards applicable to these bar codes have much to differ notably in the minimum permissible value of the width of the element bars and a ratio between the widths of the thick and thin bars. Where the type of bar code used is desired to be changed in the thermal printer described above, it has been necessary to replace the printing head and in addition, to re-design the paper feed unit. In particular, designing of the paper feed unit is not an easy task and this has resulted in an increase of cost in the manufacture of thermal printers.

Thermal printer that adjusts paper feed to match print pitch


A gun scraper tool has elements that are adapted to maintain firearms. More specifically, a gun scraper tool can have several components and scraping surfaces that can be used to disassemble a firearm and/or to scrape carbon and residue off of the appropriate areas of the firearm by using scraping surfaces. The gun scraper tool can have a roughly triangular housing and a plurality of tool components and scraping surfaces that use the housing as the base. The tool components and scraping surfaces can include a spindle, an exterior scraping blade, a pivoting brush have a base and a set of bristles, a cotter pin puller, a bolt tail brush having bristles, and a bolt carrier scraper. The variety of tasks capable of being accomplished with the disclosed gun scraper tool can minimize the need for additional cleaners or tools.

Firearms are negatively affected by moisture, rust, carbon, and gunpowder residue and need to be cleaned as a part of regular use so they do not rust and decay. To accomplish this, several types of gun cleaning kits and systems exist, with the majority of cleaning kits custom designed for a specific type of firearm, such as an AR-15. However, because firearms, such as the AR-15, often have a large number of surfaces and parts that require cleaning, existing cleaning kits and systems include several tools, each designed not only for a specific firearm, but for a specific firearm part. These pieces can be easily misplaced, and convenient storage and transport can be a challenge. Therefore, a gun cleaning tool is needed that can clean multiple firearm components and that is easy to keep on hand for quick and convenient use.


The glass ceramic plate for a cooking apparatus is transparent to visible light and IR radiation and has a noble metal film on its underside. The noble metal film is composed of an alloy of gold, platinum and/or palladium, which imparts a reflective property to it. It contains from 0 to 5 percent by weight, in relation to a total metal content, of silver, copper, silicon, bismuth and other metals that are not noble metals. The glass ceramic plate coated with the noble metal film has a spectral transmission of 0 to 12% in the infrared region of the spectrum. When a decoration consisting of a grid of unsymmetrically distributed elements is provided on the topside of the glass ceramic plate, defects in the glass ceramic material can be concealed. The invention also includes a method of coating.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a glass ceramic plate providing a cooking surface of a cook top or cooking apparatus, which is composed of a glass ceramic material which is transparent to visible light as well as IR radiation and which is provided with a coating on an underside thereof in the form of a noble metal film. The invention also relates to a coating on an underside of the glass ceramic plate. The present invention relates to a process for coating the underside of the glass ceramic panel.
2. Related Art
Glass ceramic plates, which are used in cooking devices to provide cooking surfaces, so-called glass ceramic cooking surfaces, are typically darkly colored in the melt for the European market, so that they appear black when viewed from the top and prevent viewing of components in the interior of the cooking devices. Generally under intense illumination from above, especially in the modern kitchens, e.g. under conventional halogen lighting, cables or other components in the interior of the cooking devices may still be visible from above. In order to provide an outstandingly opaque cooking surface, an opaque silicone coating is applied to the typically knobbed underside of the glass ceramic plate. The opaque silicone coating must be generally omitted in the display area and in the vicinity of the light of the residual-heat signaling device, so that the light indicator signals are visible to the user. Generally the knobbed structure on the underside of the glass ceramic plate in the vicinity of the light indicator devices (display area and residual heat indicator) is dressed with a smooth colorless silicone coating, so that the observable signals are not distorted.
Currently colorless glass ceramic plates, i.e. glass ceramic plates that are not colored in the melt, which are transparent for visible light and smooth on both sides, are widely used to provide cooking surfaces, especially in Japan. These glass ceramic plates are coated on their undersides in a special way, so that the cooking apparatus interior cannot be viewed from above through them. The cooking surfaces on the colorless smooth glass ceramic plates have the advantage that changing the coatings on the undersides of the glass ceramic plates can change their color in a simple manner. Thus the same colorless glass ceramic plate can be made to appear silver, yellow, green, or any other color besides black by means of the underside coating. Because this glass ceramic plate has no knobs on its underside illuminated cooking zone indicators, displays, or residual heat indicators can be directly mounted on the cooking surface underside and are sufficiently visible, in as much as the opaque coating is omitted in these areas.
Noble metal films used as underside coatings are described in Japanese Disclosure Document H7-17409. Furthermore EP 1,267,593 B1 describes an underside coating based on a glass flux and an inorganic pigment, which can be provided with an additional coating based on organic compounds (silicones, polyamides, among others). DE 100 14 373 C2 mentions sol-gel coatings besides noble metal coatings. Sputtered coatings are mentioned in WO 03/098115 A1.
These coatings have several disadvantages as underside coatings for glass ceramic plates that provide cooking surfaces, as shown by the following results described hereinbelow.
The noble films described in JP H7-17409 are not resistant to burned food because of their content of transition metals, e.g. silver. However the resistance of the underside coating to food is necessary for underside coatings in cooking devices with gas burners, since the food can reach the underside of the glass ceramic plate providing the cooking surface through the openings in the glass ceramic plate for the gas burners, which are necessary for operation of the gas burners. The known solutions are not suitable for a gas cooking apparatus.
Since the noble metal films described in JP H7-17409 are lustrous metal films and reflect light, defects or faults in the glass ceramic (e.g. small bubbles, scratches, or crystalline inclusions or stones) are reflected, i.e. doubled, by these noble metal layers and they are thus especially clearly visible. However small defects in the glass ceramic, such as scratches or bubbles, cannot be completely avoided during production of colorless glass ceramic plates that provide cooking surfaces, so that the exclusive coating of colorless glass ceramic plates with a noble metal preparation leads to a high rejection rate and thus to an uneconomical process.
Porous underside coatings made of glass flux and inorganic pigments according to EP 1,267,593 B1 or based on sol-gel methods described in DE 100 14 373 C2 have similarly proven to be unsuitable for use in gas cooking appliances, because food reaching the undersurface of the glass ceramic plate already forms clearly visible flecks without temperature treatment. Likewise no permanent protection could be obtained by using the sealing silicone coating, as proposed in the above-mentioned document, since the silicone coating cannot withstand the higher temperature in the vicinity of the gas burners (about 450 to 550° C.). Also the destruction of the silicone layer leads to a definite color change (a brightening) of the underside coating.
Sputtered coatings according to the WO reference—even when they were sufficient for the chemical resistance and temperature resistance requirements—have the disadvantage that an expensive marking engineering, e.g. according to JP(A) 2004 342 609, is required for forming display windows or other openings for light signals.

Glass ceramic plate providing a cooking surface for a cooking apparatus and having a coating on an underside thereof and coating process for making same


A rigidizing latch assembly comprises a robotically compatible aerospace attachment mechanism which comprises a male latch and a receptacle configured to cooperatively couple. The male latch comprises a male latch housing and a latch assembly movably disposed within the male latch housing; a driver operatively in communication with a latch support; a male latch core; a driver interface access port; and one or more extraction feet operatively in communication with the driver. The receptacle comprises a receptacle housing sized to receive a lower portion of the male latch housing; a positioning target adapted to provide a visual positioning targeting cue; and one or more latch interfaces dimensioned to releasably mate with a corresponding lead-in guide of the plurality of lead-in guides.

Often components need to have coupling male and female matched pairs. The invention described herein comprises a rigidizing latch assembly ("LAR") which, in embodiments, is a robotically compatible aerospace attachment mechanism designed to rigidly attach avionics boxes or any orbital replaceable unit to the structure of a vehicle or other structure.
However, its use is not limited to aerospace or to a male/female pair which must be robotically maneuvered.


A light flux controlling member that controls the light distribution of light emitted from a light emitting element is provided. This light flux controlling member has: an incidence surface constituted by an inner surface of a first concavity formed on a rear side of the light flux controlling member; an emission surface from which light incident on the incidence surface is emitted to the outside; and a second concavity formed on the rear side. The second concavity has a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface both inclined with respect to an imaginary straight line perpendicular to a central axis. The second inclined surface is formed in a region closer to the central axis than the first inclined surface. The first inclined surface is inclined at an angle reflecting at least part of incident light at the incidence surface and then Fresnel reflected at the emission surface.

Some transmission type image display apparatuses, such as liquid crystal display apparatuses employ a direct-type surface light source device as a backlight. In recent years, a direct-type surface light source device including a plurality of light emitting elements as a light source is increasingly used.
A direct-type surface light source device includes, for example, a substrate, a plurality of light emitting elements, a plurality of light flux controlling members (lenses) and a light diffusion member. The light emitting element is a light-emitting diode (LED), such as a white light emitting diode. The plurality of light emitting elements is disposed in a matrix on the substrate. Over each light emitting element, the light flux controlling member is disposed for expanding light emitted from the light emitting element in the surface directions of the substrate. The light emitted from the light flux controlling member is diffused by the light diffusion member, and planarly illuminates a member to be irradiated (e.g. a liquid crystal panel).
FIGS. 1A to 1C illustrate a configuration of a conventional light flux controlling member. FIG. 1A is a perspective view from the rear side, FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional perspective view from the rear side, and FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, legs formed on the rear side are not illustrated. As illustrated in FIGS. 1A to 1C, conventional light flux controlling member 20 includes incidence surface 22 on which light emitted from a light emitting element is incident and emission surface 24 emitting the light incident on incidence surface 22 toward outside. Incidence surface 22 is a surface with a recessed shape relative to the light emitting element and formed so as to face a light emitting surface of the light emitting element.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are views of optical paths in light flux controlling member 20. FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate an optical path of a beam emitted from the light emitting center of light emitting element 10 at emission angles of 30° and 40°, respectively. As used herein, "emission angle" is an angle of an emitted beam (θ in FIG. 2A) relative to optical axis OA of light emitting element 10. In FIGS. 2A and 2B, legs formed on the rear side are also not illustrated.
As illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, light emitted from light emitting element 10 enters light flux controlling member 20 from incidence surface 22. The light entering light flux controlling member 20 reaches emission surface 24, and is emitted toward outside from emission surface 24 (solid arrow). At this time, the light is refracted according to the shape of emission surface 24, so that the traveling direction of the light can be controlled. On the other hand, a part of the light reaching emission surface 24 is reflected by emission surface 24 (fresnel reflection) and reaches rear surface 26 facing the substrate on which light emitting element 10 is mounted (dashed arrow). Reflection at rear surface 26 of the light reaching rear surface 26 causes excessive light to travel to immediately above light flux controlling member 20, thereby generating an uneven luminance distribution (uneven luminance) of light emitted from a light emitting device. Emission from rear surface 26 of the light reaching rear surface 26 causes the light to be absorbed into the substrate, thereby increasing the loss of light. PTL 1 proposes a light flux controlling member that can solve such problems.
FIGS. 3A to 3C illustrate a configuration of a light flux controlling member disclosed in PTL 1. FIG. 3A is a perspective view from the rear side, FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional perspective view from the rear side, and FIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view. In FIGS. 3A and 3B, legs formed on the rear side are not illustrated. As illustrated in FIGS. 3A to 3C, in rear surface 26 of light flux controlling member 30 disclosed in PTL 1, formed are a recess including inclining surface 32 on an outer side, and surface 34 substantially parallel to central axis CA on an inner side. Inclining surface 32 is rotationally symmetric (circularly symmetric) about central axis CA of light flux controlling member 30, and inclines at a predetermined angle (e.g. 45°) relative to a virtual straight line orthogonal to central axis CA.
FIGS. 4A and 4B are views of optical paths in light flux controlling member 30. FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an optical path of a beam emitted from the light emitting center of light emitting element 10 at emission angles of 30° and 40°, respectively. In FIGS. 4A and 4B, legs formed on the rear side are also not illustrated. As illustrated in FIGS. 4A and 4B, fresnel-reflected light at emission surface 24 reaches a predetermined region on rear surface 26. Forming inclining surface 32 in the predetermined region enables changing the direction of at least a part of the light reaching inclining surface 32 by reflection to a lateral direction (see FIGS. 4A and 4B).
In light flux controlling member 30 disclosed in PTL 1, the light reflected by emission surface 24 is less likely to become light traveling to immediately above light flux controlling member 30, or is less likely to be absorbed into the substrate. Therefore, a light emitting device including light flux controlling member 30 disclosed in PTL 1 can radiate light uniformly and efficiently compared to a light emitting device including a conventional light flux controlling member.
In recent years, chip-on-board (COB) LEDs are used for lighting due to their easy mounting and high light emission efficiency. The COB LEDs are known to emit more light in lateral directions than conventional LEDs do, in addition to emission of light upward.

Light flux controlling member, light emitting device, surface light source device and display device


A system and method is provided which minimizes angular random walk or bias occurring in ring laser gyroscopes as a result of temperature changes. Temperature is known to affect components in a ring laser gyroscope in a manner which increases angular random walk or bias. By detecting temperature and causing movable path length transducers to move mirrors in the gyroscope into a position previously determined for a given temperature, angular random walk or bias is minimized for the given temperature.

In present technology wherein ring laser gyroscopes are employed in guidance systems, those of ordinary skill in the art recognize that, if there is any scattering within the lasing cavity of a ring laser gyroscope so that a portion of one of the counter-rotating laser beams couples into the other beam, there is a tendency for the phases of the two beams to pull towards each other. This pulling effect is most apparent when the frequencies and phases of the two laser beams travelling in opposite directions within the same cavity are close to each other, such as when the input rate approaches zero. This pulling of the frequencies and the phases of the two beams towards each other, frequently referred to as lock-in, results in an error in the output of the gyroscope.
One means available in the prior art to reduce this pulling between the beams is to modulate the ring laser gyroscope about its input axis in a periodic fashion. This modulation is frequently referred to as dither, as disclosed in J. E. Killpatrick U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,650 issued Mar. 19, 1968, and assigned to the same assignee as that of the present invention. In the patent there is disclosed that the dither motion reduces the lock-in effect the majority of the time. A further development in the dither technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,472, also issued to J. E. Killpatrick and assigned to the same assignee as that of the present invention, which teaches that the error due to lock-in can be further reduced by randomizing the oscillation or dithering of the beams so that the small errors at the extremities of the oscillation are no longer cumulative. However, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that, even with the significant benefits derived from the utilization of the teachings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,373,650 and 3,467,472, there is still a small error in the angular output of the ring laser gyroscope which manifests itself as a drift with the characteristics of a statistical random walk. This angular random walk error, of necessity, affects the accuracy of the measurements being conducted.
T. J. Podgorski U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,071, issued May 1, 1979 and assigned to the same assignee as that of the present invention, discloses that random walk can be reduced by shifting the position of the mirrors in the gyroscope so as to change the position of the path that the laser beams traverse within the lasing cavity of the ring laser gyroscope. By shifting the position of some of the mirrors, for example, one mirror can be shifted inwardly while another can be shifted outwardly, it is possible to reduce the random drift or angular random walk of the gyroscope while maintaining the same laser path length. This is accomplished because the new path that the laser beams traverse moves the beams away from any sources of scatter within the lasing cavity.
Though the technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,071, generally serves to reduce the random drift of a ring laser gyroscope, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the technique has certain limitations. For example, the discriminant signal, referred to as the single beam signal or the AC component of the laser power signal, which is used to determine whether the gyroscope is operating at a minimum in angular random walk, as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,071, is only modulated in a readily measurable manner if the ring laser gyroscope experiences a zero input rate in a periodic manner. For example, if the input rate applied to the ring laser gyroscope does not exceed the peak dither rate, then the ring laser gyroscope will experience such zero input rate in a periodic manner. However, if the ring laser gyroscope does not experience zero input rate for a sufficiently long time, then the techniques discussed will not work.
It will also be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that, since real gyroscopes are not ideal, all gyroscopes indicate a non-zero output for zero input rate. This non-zero output is referred to as bias. This bias is not a major problem if it is constant for all conditions, since it can be compensated for. However, it has been discovered that the bias in the output of a ring laser gyroscope may change with changes in the above-mentioned single beam signal. This indicates that there is a different gyroscope bias associated with each potential path that the laser beams may traverse within the lasing cavity, since each of these paths result in a different scatter of one of the beams into the other giving a different resulting single beam signal. It has also been discovered that this single beam signal and the angular random walk of a ring laser gyroscope change with changes in the gyroscope temperature. Consequently, controlling the position of the path that the laser beams traverse within the lasing cavity for a constant angular random walk, with the minimum being an example of a constant random walk, also minimizes the changes in the gyroscope bias. As an additional consequence, controlling for a constant angular random walk over temperature also results in a minimum variation in the gyroscope bias. Further, certain specific paths for certain temperatures, when selected will result in minimized bias with a constant, though not necessarily minimum angular random walk.
Accordingly, in accordance with the invention, the problems of minimizing angular random walk and compensating for or minimizing bias in the referenced techniques are avoided by relying on temperature measurements to change the path, without changing the path length, of laser beams within a ring laser gyroscope in a predetermined and calculated manner.

Method and system for minimizing angular random walk or bias in a ring laser gyroscope through the use of temperature based control


An aircraft head up display system that displays a basic mode, an en route mode, or an approach/landing mode. When the aircraft attitude changes to predefined unusual attitude conditions, the display changes to an unusual attitude mode to indicate the unusual attitude condition. The display in the unusual attitude mode removes non-essential symbols and displays the aircraft air speed, altitude and attitude. The attitude display includes an unusual attitude ball display containing a horizon symbol, a series of simulated section lines to indicate an area below the horizon, a pitch ladder, a water line indicator, and a roll indicator.

The present invention relates to aircraft head-up display (HUD) systems and, in particular, to HUD display strategies and symbologies to aid a pilot in detecting and recovering from unusual aircraft attitudes (climb/dive pitch and or roll) during flight.
HUD systems are now widely used in both military and commercial aircraft to provide pilots with essential information superimposed onto their forward field of view through the aircraft windshield. The information displayed is typically data and/or symbolic images indicative of flight conditions, such as aircraft altitude or airspeed, navigation information, or guidance information.
FIG. 1 generally illustrates a side view of the optics geometry of a head up display system in the cockpit 10 of an aircraft 11 having a windshield 12. A pilot is shown at 13 with an eye shown at an eye reference point 14 within an eyebox (exit pupil) indicated by dashed lines 15. The eye reference point 14 is a geometrical point in space. FIG. 2 illustrates a field of view from the pilot to the combiner 20.
Guidance information displayed on a HUD combiner for observation by a pilot generally includes symbology that represents position and attitude guidance for the aircraft during flight. One example is a flare anticipation cue implemented in a Flight Dynamics head-up guidance system that is certified by the Federal Aviation Administration for use on Boeing 737-300 aircraft. The flare anticipation cue alerts the pilot several seconds before the aircraft reaches a flare initiation height and indicates to the pilot the pitch up rate required at the initial part of the flare.
Another application of head-up displays is guidance information that can be displayed to a pilot during low visibility ground weather conditions to assist the pilot after touchdown in safely taxiing the aircraft to the airport terminal. A pending patent application, also owned by the assignee of the present application, describes methods and symbologies for taxi mode of operation, including the production of a turn anticipation cue that, together with a turn direction arrow, is displayed as a symbol on a HUD system combiner as part of aircraft rollout on an active runway and taxi operations to and from an airport terminal. The turn anticipate cue alerts the pilot that a turn from the current path of the aircraft is approaching within a predetermined time or distance. HUD displays thus can be used in various modes of operation, including a basic mode, en route mode, approach/landing mode and a taxiing mode as noted.
One very important yet challenging task is to design a HUD display to assist the pilot in recognizing and recovering from an unusual attitude (UA) of the aircraft. One important aspect of the problem is to enable the pilot to quickly and accurately identify which way is up (away from the center of the earth). In a heads-down display (HDD), color is used to advantage in this regard. An attitude display or attitude indicator ball in the HDD displays a straight line representing the horizon; solid brown color below the horizon (i.e. toward the ground), and a solid blue color field above the horizon to indicate the direction of the sky. That combination of indicia makes it easy for the pilot to quickly identify which way is up. Most head-up displays, however, are limited to simple monochromatic symbologies: Solid fields, shading, cross-hatching and the like generally are not used because they occlude the view through the windshield outside the aircraft. Consequently, attitude indicators like the HDD cannot be used for HUD.
Another challenge in addressing unusual attitudes in HUD arises because HUD""s provide a very limited field of view (FOV). For example, a typical HUD today provides a 30 degree by 24 degree FOV (The dimensional units most often used to describe symbol size and position are miliradians (mrad) of angular arc. Either way, a specified viewing distance is required to convert to equivalent linear dimensions of the display). Given the relatively limited FOV available in the HUD, display of a wide range of conformal climb/dive pitch angles is not possible. One means to increase the range of angles displayed is through pitch compression. However, compression of the pitch ladder is undesirable, at least in some circumstances, as it may to lead to disorientation. Put another way, a xe2x80x9cconformalxe2x80x9d or one-to-one display on the HUD consistently tracks the xe2x80x9creal worldxe2x80x9d that the pilot is viewing through the windshield. Compression seems necessary in order to accurately display the more extreme excursions in pitch and roll that occur during unusual UA""s, yet conformal orientation cues may be superior in just those situations. There is some controversy as to the most appropriate approach. If full-time scaling is not selected, this issue is further complicated by consideration of switching between compressed and noncompressed display modes; for example, should a compression mode switch take place gradually or in a discrete step. See Newman at page 87.
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a typical prior art HUD display. The features and symbols employed in this type of display shown in FIG. 3 and 4 include the following: to the left side of the display is an air speed indicator 302, in this case a xe2x80x9ctapexe2x80x9d display combining both analog and digital features. A digital ground speed indicator 304 also is provided in the lower left quadrant of the display. Other known air speed indicators include digital and counter-pointer symbols. To the right side of the display is an altitude indicator 310. In this case, an altitude xe2x80x9ctapexe2x80x9d is shown. A digital vertical speed indicator 306 also is provided generally in the lower right hand quadrant of the display. Again, other types of altitude displays are known in the art. Referring to FIG. 4, the display 300 includes a horizon indicator 312, in this case a straight line segment with no break. A conventional pitch ladder 314 is provided for indicating climb/dive attitude in conjunction with the horizon 312.
The pitch ladder 314 in FIG. 4 includes a series of steps, spaced apart typically in 5 degree pitch increments. There, the steps are labeled 5, 10, (0 is the horizon line 312), and finally minus 5 degrees. Each pitch step indicator comprises a pair of line segments with a space in the middle, symmetrically arranged about the water line indicator 316, and having perpendicular ends on the outboard side of each line segment pointing toward.the horizon; for example, see reference number 315. The water line symbol 316, also called a bore sight, indicates an axis parallel to the fuselage of the plane and generally remains in a fixed position near the center of the FOV.
An airplane: symbol 320 in FIG. 4 indicates the current flight path of the aircraft. In the display of FIG. 4, the aircraft is in what would generally be considered an unusual attitude. The display indicates a pitch of about 2 degrees and a roll, angle of about 140 degrees. Here, an xe2x80x9cAugie arrowxe2x80x9d 322 is displayed to point toward the horizon. The Augie arrow has been suggested for use during unusual attitudes as an orientation cue, but we consider it too small and too subtle and not compelling enough to be useful in identifying and recovering from a UA.
FIG. 5 is another example of a prior art HUD display, including most of the features and symbols already described with reference to FIG. 4. In FIG. 5, the horizon 330 is shown as a dashed line, known as a ghost horizon. In this case, the pitch ladder provides the usual 5 degree steps; and it can be observed that 0 degrees pitch is just about where the horizon 330 is shown in the drawing. As the pitch ladder moves further down in the display (presumably as the aircraft assumes a greater pitch), the horizon would no longer be visible on the display (assuming no automatic compression of the ladder). The ghost horizon is dashed to indicate that it is no longer a conformal representation of the horizon relative to the pitch ladder. However, albeit dashed, the horizon symbol 330 remains visible on the display at all times, thereby providing at least a minimal orientation cue as to which direction is up or down.
One aspect of the present invention provides for a dramatic change in the HUD display appearance when a UA is encountered during flight. The UA is defined as a climb/dive pitch angle and/or a roll angle that exceeds pre-defined limits. These can be individually programmed and will depend upon a particular aircraft and other variables. The HUD system is programmed to monitor pitch and roll, and switch into a UA display mode when a UA is encountered. The switch to UA display mode should be discrete rather than gradual, and it may be punctuated by flashing the entire display screen several times within the span of about one second. The UA mode of display is characterized by decluttering the display so as to remove most of the non-essential symbols that appear during other modes of operation. What remains on the UA display mode is essentially three components: an air speed indicator, an altitude indicator and an attitude indicator. In a presently preferred embodiment, the air speed indicator is shown on the left side of the display in the form of a conventional air speed tape. The right side of the display features an altitude display tape. The center of the display in UA mode consists of a large, unitary attitude display element, in the form of a single closed shape such as a circle or rectangle.
Within the attitude display, absence of clutter remains important, but the following symbols generally should be included: a horizon, a center line perpendicular to the horizon, at least a bilaterally symmetrical pair of sectional lines on either side of the center line and converging toward the horizon; a conformal pitch ladder aligned with the center line (i.e. generally perpendicular to the horizon); a water line indicator at the center of the attitude display; and a roll scale and roll indicator extending along at least a portion of the periphery of the attitude display component.
In one embodiment, the attitude display is circular, referred to as a UA ball display (UABD). Regardless of the selected shape of the attitude display, the horizon appears within the display at all time, even if truncating the pitch ladder becomes necessary in order to preserve the horizon display.
Additional objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.


When a user program is processed on a parallel computer system, individual processes of the user program are executed concurrently on different processors. The situation may arise here that a first process requires data generated by a second process. The first process must then wait during processing until the second process makes this data available. In order not to extend the program runtime when translating such a user program, the instructions of a first process that access data generated by a second process open result cells in a memory area that is locked for the user mode, in which the data generated by the second process is then entered. During the processing of the user program after the translation for the parallel computer system, all instructions with memory access are examined to determine whether the addressed memory location is a result cell in the locked memory area. If this is the case, then the operating system interrupts the processing of the user program and starts an interrupt routine which has access to the result cell in the system mode. It is determined thereby whether the result is already present in the result cell, and in this case the result is made available to the process. Otherwise, the first process remains interrupted until the result supplied by the other process has been entered in the result cell.

The invention relates to a method for processing a user program on a parallel computer system.
For processing on a parallel computer system, a user program can be divided into a plurality of processes which are processed concurrently on a plurality of processors of the parallel computer system. The situation may therefore arise that for execution a first process on one processor of the parallel computer system requires the result of a second process which is being processed on another processor of the parallel computer system, the result of which is not yet available. In this case, the two processes must be synchronized. One process must assume a wait state and wait for the termination of the other process. Once the result of the other process is available, then the first process can be continued (Interfaces in Computing, Vol. 3, Nos. 3/4, Sept.-Dec. '85, Lausanne CH, pp. 199-216, Elsevier Sequoia, NL).
An example of such program processing is the functional programming style in which a program consists of nested function calls. If a user program of this type runs on a parallel data processing system, the individual functions can run in different processes. A function supplies a result which can be transferred to another function as an argument and processed further there.
Depending on how they use their arguments, functions can be divided into two types:
Strict function
A function is strict if the function requires the values of individual arguments for execution. This is the case with arithmetic operations for example. An addition can only be executed if the values of all the arguments to be added are available.
Non-strict function
A function is non-strict if the values of all the arguments are not required for executing the function, that is to say the arguments are passed on to the function without the function looking at the value. Non-strict operations are assignment operations or PUSH operations for example.
As a result of the parallel processing of such functions, the situation may arise that a function requires as an argument the result of another function which is running in another process on another processor and is not yet terminated. In this case synchronization is necessary. In parallel data processing systems, the problem of the synchronization of functions can be solved as follows, depending on the type of function:
Case 1: A strict function requires as an argument the result of a function that is running concurrently with the strict function. PA1 Since the value of the strict argument is required by the function, in this case the functions must be synchronized, that is to say the strict function must wait for the computation of the argument. PA1 Case 2: A non-strict function has as an argument the result of a function that is running concurrently with the non-strict function. PA1 Since the non-strict function does not require the value of the argument, it is possible, for example, to introduce the concept of the placeholder for this purpose (Halstead, R: "Multilisp: A Language for Concurrent Symbolic Computation", ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, October 1985). It is possible to use these placeholders as if they were the result of the parallel process. The placeholder is used here instead of the argument for the execution of the non-strict function. Thus, for instance, a PUSH operation can be executed using a placeholder instead of the actual value. By means of this concept, the synchronization would be postponed until the time of the first strict use of the result. With the non-strict use of data it is consequently possible to dispense with synchronization and utilize better the parallel data processing system. PA1 The value of the argument is stored normally, so that it is possible to access the data directly. The strict operation can be executed. PA1 Instead of the argument there is a placeholder which points to the actual result. The result is in a result cell. If the result cell already contains the data, then it is possible to access this data with an additional memory access via the placeholder. The strict operation can then be executed. PA1 A placeholder, that is to say also a result cell, exists but it does not yet contain any result. The process which is to compute the result is still active. In this case synchronization must take place, that is to say the strict operation must wait for the termination of the process and the provision of the result in the result cell.
The concept of placeholders must be taken into account for the execution of strict operations. When a function is called, an argument may be available in three different states:
These three possible states of an argument require different handling. Modern functional language concepts for parallel processing, such as Multilisp for example, which permit a transparent processing of the results of processes free the program developer from the explicit handling of the different argument states. However, as a result the present state is static, that is to say as a rule cannot be decided at the time the user program is translated. The case distinction must therefore be performed at the user program runtime for each data access of a strict operation to its strict arguments.

Method for processing a user program on a parallel computer system


An EL lamp having a transparent front electrode is overprinted with an opaque graphic having the same color as the phosphor in the lamp. A translucent coating over the graphic is clear or tinted. The graphic is visible only when the lamp is lit. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, a second graphic, visible whether or not the lamp is lit, is overprinted on the lamp. The second graphic has a color perceptibly different from the color of the phosphor and is opaque, transparent, or any opacity between opaque and transparent.

This invention relates to an electroluminescent (EL) lamp and, in particular, to an EL lamp displaying a graphics image only when lit.
An EL lamp is essentially a capacitor having a dielectric layer between two conductive electrodes, one of which is transparent. The dielectric layer can include a phosphor powder or there may be a separate layer of phosphor powder adjacent a dielectric layer. The phosphor powder radiates light in the presence of a strong electric field, using very little current. The front electrode is typically a thin, transparent layer of indium tin oxide or indium oxide and the rear electrode is typically a polymer binder, e.g. polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyester, vinyl, or epoxy, containing conductive particles such as silver or carbon. The front electrode is applied to a polymer film such as polyester or polycarbonate to provide mechanical integrity and support for the other layers.
It is often desired to have an EL lamp produce a graphic image when illuminated, e.g. text, numerals, a corporate logo, or other symbol. A graphic image can be produced by patterning one or both electrodes of the EL lamp, by applying an opaque graphic to an EL lamp ("overprinting"), or by adding a pre-printed, transparent layer to a lamp. A problem with overprinting a lamp is that the graphic is visible even when the lamp is not lit. Many customers for EL lamps want a graphic visible only when the lamp is lit.
A graphic is also visible when the front electrode is patterned, although the graphic may not be obvious. A patterned electrode is more costly than a continuous electrode and the resulting lamp is yet more costly because one must separately power each lamp in a panel in order to have each lamp equally bright. Providing appropriate conductive runs increases the cost of the panel. Patterning the rear electrode typically produces a fuzzy image because the rear electrode is a screen printed conductive ink and is much thicker than the front electrode. The image is also somewhat fuzzy because the "image" of the rear electrode is diffused in the phosphor layer.
It is known in the art to provide displays with images that are concealed when one or more lamps are off. For example, U.S. Pat. 3,362,284 (Gay) discloses incandescent lamps illuminating a small sign in which a first message, written in phosphorescent ink, is hidden behind a screen on which a second message is written. The background of the first message is painted the same color as the phosphorescent ink. When the lamps are lit, the second message is visible. After the lamps are extinguished, the second message is invisible and the phosphorescent glow of the first message is visible temporarily through the screen.
U.S. Pat, 3,397,334 (Motson) discloses a black mask overprinted on an EL lan@having an Inconel front electrode that is deposited on a roughened glass surface. The front electrode is only 50% to 75% transmissive and appears to be black ("of virtually the same depth" as the mask). The mask defines indicia that are visible when the lamp is lit. Aside from the fact that the single color available, black, is unsuited to many applications, e.g. watch faces, only a mask can be used. The mask covers a substantial part of the front electrode, shielding it from light and making the electrode appear black. Further, as described in the patent, the roughened surface of the glass contributes to the apparent color of the front electrode.
In view of the foregoing, it is therefore an object of the invention to provide an EL lamp for displaying a graphic image only when lit.
Another object of the invention is to provide an overprinted EL lamp having a hidden graphic that is revealed only when the lamp is lit.
A further object of the invention is to provide a overprinted EL lamp in which a continuously visible graphic is combined with a graphic visible only when the lamp is lit.
Another object of the invention is to provide an EL lamp of any desired color having a hidden graphic that is revealed only when the lamp is lit.

El lamp with color matching or hidden graphic