The invention is directed to an arrangement for controlling a braking force applied to each of front and rear road wheels of a four-wheel drive vehicle depending upon a braking condition, with a hydraulic braking pressure supplied to each of the wheel brake cylinders through an actuator. The actuator is controlled by a braking force controller into which output signals of wheel speed sensors are fed. On the basis of the wheel speeds detected by the sensors, a wheel acceleration of each road wheel is calculated. Also, an oscillation of a relative movement between the front and rear road wheels is determined. And, a coefficient of friction of a road is estimated in accordance with the wheel acceleration and the oscillation. For example, it is estimated that the road is of a relatively low coefficient of friction, when a mean wheel acceleration of all road wheels becomes less than a predetermined standard acceleration, and when the oscillation is caused to exceed a predetermined level. Then, the hydraulic braking pressure applied to each of the wheel brake cylinders is controlled by the braking force controller in accordance with the estimated coefficient of friction and in response to each wheel speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anti-skid control system for controlling the braking force applied to each driven wheel in a braking operation of an automotive vehicle having four driven wheels to prevent each driven wheel from being locked, and more particularly to an anti-skid control system for estimating a coefficient of friction of a road surface, and controlling the braking force in accordance with the estimated coefficient of friction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, an ordinary passenger vehicle has a pair of road wheels at each of its front and rear sides. Either the front road wheels or the rear road wheels of that vehicle are operatively connected with the internal combustion engine to be driven directly thereby, while the rest of the wheels are not connected with the engine so as to be served as non-driven wheels. A vehicle having the driven wheels at its front side is called a front drive vehicle, while a vehicle having the driven wheels at its rear side is called a rear drive vehicle. Whereas, a vehicle having the driven wheels at both of the front and rear sides is called a four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicle. Further, there has been provided a differential gear mechanism for compensating a difference between the rotational speeds of the right and left driven wheels so as to ensure a smooth driving of the vehicle. In other words, the right and left driven wheels are controlled by means of the differential gear mechanism such that an equal torque is transmitted to the right and left driven wheels, respectively. As for a driving system of the four-wheel drive vehicle, there are known various types of the system, such as a part time system, full time system, of the like. According to the full time system, the front driven wheels and the rear driven wheels are connected by a differential gear mechanism, i.e., so called center differential gear. Also, in order to prevent a trouble which may be caused when only either one of the driven wheels slips, a limited slip differential mechanism (LSD) is employed for limiting the differential operation and increasing the driving force, with a mechanism for generating a frictional torque, or a mechanical clutch mechanism, provided in the differential gear mechanism.
The coefficient of friction between the road surface and the road wheels is varied in dependence upon the kinds of the road wheels, the road surface condition and the like. Especially, the coefficient of friction (herein, abbreviated as CF) is varied to a large extent in dependence upon the conditions of the road on which the vehicle is running, such as a dry road surface and a wet road surface. Thus, it is very important to detect the coefficient of friction of the road surface (hereinafter, referred to as the road-CF). In this respect, when the vehicle is running, it is impossible to directly detect the road-CF. Therefore, according to an apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No.60-35647 for example, the road-CF is determined by comparing in magnitude a wheel speed and a wheel acceleration, with a standard speed and a standard acceleration of each wheel, respectively. However, in the apparatus disclosed in that publication, the road-CF is supposed to be estimated after the pressure decreasing operation in a wheel cylinder of each road wheel has been initiated, so that the road-CF is estimated only when the hydraulic braking pressure is being controlled. Therefore, it is impossible to estimate the road-CF before the pressure decreasing operation starts.
According to a hydraulic braking system employing a proportional control electromagnetic valve as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No.3-208758, it has been proposed to detect the road-CF at the time of starting a braking pressure control for providing an appropriate braking pressure control at the time of starting the same in accordance with the road conditions. In practice, it is so arranged that the road-CF is estimated on the basis of an acceleration of a standard speed which is provided at the time when means for determining the necessity of the braking pressure control has determined the same to be initiated. That is, an estimated vehicle speed Vs is calculated on the basis of the maximum speed of the wheel speeds of the four road wheels before the braking pressure control is initiated, and an acceleration Vsd of the estimated vehicle speed Vs is calculated. Then, the road-CF is estimated on the basis of the acceleration Vsd thereby to provide a hydraulic braking pressure applied to each wheel cylinder.
In the above-described publication, however, the value of the hydraulic braking pressure which is provided when the braking pressure control is initiated, is unknown, and the road-CF which is estimated on the basis of a variation of the estimated vehicle speed Vs per a certain period of time, can not be estimated, if all the road wheels are locked simultaneously. In order to solve this problem, an anti-skid control apparatus has been proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No.5-131912. This apparatus includes means for calculating the variation of the estimated vehicle speed per a certain period of time, means for estimating the coefficient of friction of the road by comparing the variation with a predetermined value, braking force control means for controlling an actuator in accordance with at least an estimated result of the coefficient of friction estimation means to control the hydraulic braking pressure fed to a wheel cylinder thereby to control the braking force applied to a road wheel, and means for adjusting the value of the coefficient of friction. This adjusting means is arranged to prevent the variation calculation means from calculating the variation of the estimated vehicle speed, when the variation has exceeded a predetermined value more than a predetermined number of times in a predetermined period of time before the braking pressure control is initiated by the braking force control means, whereby the coefficient of friction can be estimated, even if all of the road wheels are locked simultaneously. However, according to the apparatus disclosed in the publication No.5-131912, if the braking force is gradually applied to the road wheel for example, the wheel speed will be also gradually decreased, so that it is difficult to detect the locking condition of the road wheel until the wheel speed is decreased to a relatively low speed. Therefore, the anti-skid control operation might be delayed thereby to cause all of the road wheels to be locked simultaneously. According to the conventional anti-skid control apparatus, the braking control system is provided for controlling the vehicle running on a road of a relatively high coefficient of friction (hereinafter, referred to as high-CF) when the anti-skid control is initiated. Therefore, if the gradual braking operation is made on a road of a relatively low coefficient of friction (hereinafter, referred to as low-CF), the wheel speeds of all the road wheels will be immediately decreased. Or, if the estimated vehicle speed is provided on the basis of the maximum wheel speed, for example, to perform the braking force control, the estimated vehicle speed will be rapidly decreased, with the wheel speed decreased, to be far from the actual vehicle speed.
Generally, when a running vehicle is braked, the axle loads which are applied to the front and rear portions of the vehicle respectively, will be different from each other due to the moving load caused by the braking operation. Therefore, the braking force applied to a front road wheel and-the braking force applied to a rear road wheel for locking all the road wheels simultaneously are not in direct proportion to each other, but in such a relationship as called an ideal braking force distribution, which varies depending upon the condition with or without load. If the braking force applied to the rear road wheel exceeds the braking force applied to the front road wheel, the directional stability of the vehicle will be deteriorated. In order to keep the braking force applied to the rear road wheel lower than that applied to the front road wheel and provide a distribution in close proximity to the ideal braking force distribution, a proportioning valve is provided between the rear wheel brake cylinder and the master cylinder, so that the braking force applied to the rear road wheel is generally set to be lower than the braking force applied to the front road wheel. Therefore, when the braking force is applied to the front and rear road wheels simultaneously, the front road wheel is likely to be locked in advance. This is irrelevant to the road surface conditions.
However, in the case where the rear road wheel is connected with the front road wheel through the engine as in the full time four-wheel drive vehicle, the wheel speed is caused to vary in a peculiar fashion, as explained below.
In general, the equation of motion of each road wheel on a road surface is as follows: EQU Im.times.Ar=CF.times.W.times.R-Tb
where "Im" is an inertia moment of a rotational system of a tire, "Tb" is a braking torque, "Ar" is an angular acceleration of a road wheel, "W" is a load of a tire, and "R" is a radius of the tire. "x" designates multiplication. In such a four-wheel drive vehicle as shown in FIG. 14, wherein its front road wheels and rear road wheels are operatively connected to an engine and a mission (shown as EG) through a center differential gear CD, a torsion is caused on a propeller shaft PS which transmits the driving force from the front road wheels to the rear road wheels. Therefore, the equation of motion which is applied to the case where a torque Td at the rear side (i.e., the torque of a rear differential gear RD) is transmitted to the center differential gear CD, i.e., a simulation model equation for the transmission of the torque as viewed from the driving side, is as follows: EQU Ip.times.np=Tp-Td, and EQU Td=Cp (np-nd)+Kp (Ap-Ad)
where "Ip" is an inertia moment of a rotational system including the propeller shaft PS, "Tp" is a torque of the propeller shaft PS, "np" is a rotational speed of the propeller shaft PS, "nd" is a rotational speed of the rear differential gear RD, "Cp" is a torsion damping coefficient, "Kp" is a torsional rigidity, "Ap" is an angle of rotation of the propeller shaft PS, and "Ad" is the angle of rotation of the rear differential gear RD. Thus, the torque is transmitted to the center differential gear CD, with a displacement of the propeller shaft caused by the torsion.
In the case where such a four-wheel drive vehicle as shown in FIG. 14 is running on a road surface of a relatively low coefficient of friction (low-CF), and where the coefficient of friction between the tire and the road surface decreases after it reached its peak value, the wheel acceleration is greatly decreased, because the inertia moment of the tire in its rotating direction is smaller than the inertia moment of the propeller shaft PS associated with the center differential gear CD. On the contrary, the inertia of the propeller shaft PS is relatively large. Therefore, a rotational speed differential (rotational angular differential) is caused between the rotational speed (np) of the propeller shaft PS and the rotational speed (nd) of the rear differential gear RD. In accordance with the rotational speed differential, the torque is transmitted to the propeller shaft PS so as to decrease the rotational speed of the propeller shaft PS. However, since the inertia of the propeller shaft PS is relatively large, the rotational speed of the propeller shaft PS is not decreased so much, whereas the torque is provided by its reaction to rotate the tire (in a direction for reducing the braking torque). Consequently, the wheel speed, which once tended to be decreased, tends to gain the speed again, thereby to cause a vibration or oscillation of the speed. In this connection, although the oscillation is caused when the vehicle is braked on the road surface of a relatively high coefficient of friction (high-CF), even if the braking torque is decreased by the reaction force, the tire torque is relatively large on that road surface. Therefore, the motion of the vehicle is not so much affected by the coefficient of friction of the road surface, until its position in the coefficient of friction vs slip rate characteristic comes to be located in such a region as being almost flat to reach the peak region. Accordingly, it is possible to distinguish the road conditions of the high-CF and the low-CF, on the basis of the oscillating state of the wheel speed differential between the rotational speed of the road wheel running on the high-CF road and that of the road wheel running on the low-CF road.
FIG. 15 illustrates the conditions during the gradual braking operation in the above-described four-wheel drive vehicle, and illustrates variations of a mean or average wheel speed of the front driven road wheels (hereinafter, referred to as front wheels) Vfa (hereinafter, referred to as a front mean speed Vfa), and a mean wheel speed of the rear driven road wheels (rear wheels) Vra (a rear mean speed Vra), in the case where the vehicle is running on the road surface of the low-CF as shown in the upper section of FIG. 15, and where the vehicle is running on the road surface of the high-CF as shown in the lower section of FIG. 15. On the low-CF road, when all of the road wheels are braked, the front mean speed Vfa is decreased in advance as shown by a phantom line. Then, the rear mean speed Vra is decreased as shown by a solid line, and at the same time the front mean speed Vfa is once increased. Thereafter, the front and rear mean speeds Vfa, Vra are decreased varying respectively to generate an oscillation of the speed differential between the front and rear mean speeds Vfa and Vra. On the high-CF road surface, however, as shown in the lower section in FIG. 15, the front and rear mean speeds Vfa, Vra are decreased in substantially the same fashion. Comparing the upper section with the lower section in FIG. 15, therefore, if it is possible to determine the characteristic in which the front and rear mean speeds Vfa, Vra are decreased varying respectively, the road surface could be estimated to be of the low-CF, at least.

Anti-skid control system for a four-wheel drive vehicle


A disk-shaped magnet attached to a rotary shaft is circumferentially segmented into a plurality of segments which are magnetized to form driving magnetic poles. A plurality of velocity detecting magnetic poles are also arranged on the disk-shaped magnet concentrically to the driving magnetic poles. The number of the velocity detecting magnetic poles is larger than the number of the driving magnetic poles to increase the frequency of an output signal of a velocity detecting coil which interlinks with the velocity detecting magnetic poles so that a response speed of a velocity control circuit is increased.

The present invention relates to a motor having an axial magnetic gap, and more particularly to a motor adapted to be used in a disk record player or a magnetic tape recorder in which the rotating speed of a rotor magnet is sensed to control the rotating speed of the rotor magnet.
In the motor used in the disk record player which plays back a disk record and the magnetic tape recorder/player which records a signal on a magnetic tape and plays it back, it is required to rotate a turntable and a pinch roller at constant speeds and hence it is necessary to control the rotating speed of the motor.
In order to maintain the rotating speed of the motor constant, the rotating speed of the motor may be converted to a voltage signal or frequency signal, which is then compared with a reference voltage or frequency to increase or decrease the rotating speed of the rotor in accordance with a difference between the signals.
A motor has been proposed, which uses a multi-pole magnet as the rotor and a velocity detecting coil arranged in a magnetic field of the multi-pole magnet to interlink with magnetic fluxes of the multi-pole magnet so that the rotating speed of the multi-pole magnet is converted to an A.C. signal. Such a motor is disclosed in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 51510/77, laid open on Apr. 25, 1977 (corresponding to Japanese Patent Application No. 127768/75, U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 735,032 filed on Oct. 22, 1976, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,897 and German Patent Application No. P2647675.5 filed on Oct. 21, 1976). This motor has a disk magnet attached to a rotary shaft, which disk magnet is magnetized in the direction of the thickness and circumferentially segmented into eight poles with each pole being magnetized in opposite polarity to adjacent poles. A pair of drive coils wound in a star-shape are arranged to face the multi-pole magnet and the velocity detecting coil is arranged to face the multi-pole magnet between the drive coils and the multi-pole magnet. In this motor, the pair of drive coils and the velocity detecting coil are fixed and a magnetic gap is provided in the direction of the axis around which the multi-pole magnet rotates. The velocity detecting coil includes a plurality of radially extending series-connected generating element wires, each of which interlinks with the magnetic flux of each magnetic pole of the multi-pole magnet to produce the velocity detecting signal having a frequency representative of the rotating speed of the multi-pole magnet. However, since the velocity detecting coil interlinks with the magnetic fluxes of the eight magnetic poles of the multi-pole magnet to produce the velocity signal, the frequency of the velocity signal is too low. For example, when this motor is used in the disk record player to directly drive the turntable, the velocity signal has a frequency of 20 Hz if the number of the generating element wires of the velocity detecting coil is equal to 72 and the rotating speed of the turntable is equal to 331/3 r.p.m. Accordingly, a response speed of a velocity control circuit which processes the velocity signal is slow. The velocity control circuit converts the velocity signal to a D.C. voltage which ia representative of the frequency of the velocity signal and compares the D.C. voltage with a reference voltage from a reference voltage source and controls a drive current supplied to the drive coils in a manner to reduce the difference between those voltages. However, since the frequency of the velocity signal is low, a time contant of a low-pass filter to which the velocity signal is fed is large and hence the response speed of the velocity control circuit is low.
In order to raise the frequency of the velocity signal, the number of the generating element wires of the velocity detecting coil may be increased. In this case, however, a space between adjacent element wires becomes so narrow that signals may be produced simultaneously in the adjacent element wires, resulting in the reduction of the output voltage of the velocity signal.


An appurtenant remote control adapter device suited for application with portable remote controllers commonly used with entertainment equipment including television receptors. The proxy adaptor is configured to intercept a sequence of wireless command signals emitted by the remote control. The intercepted command signals are adapted for temporal storage in a memory. A singular “SEND” command button may be subsequently actuated by a user to urge discharge of the temporarily stored wireless command signal from the memory for forthright translation to a remotely controlled apparatus as a usually singular packetized data burst of wireless signal. The adapter allows a user to leisurely enter individual keystrokes composing the command signal sequence and only then necessarily aim the adapter towards the remotely controlled apparatus with a concurrent singular actuation of the SEND key-button to translate the wireless signal to command the remotely controlled apparatus.

My invention affords a superior degree of convenience and error-resistant operation of an ordinary remote control by ordinary users. It is not unusual for user's to experience difficulty and confusion while trying to use the type of remote control ubiquitously included with virtually every television receiver, cable box or satellite receiver. The main problem encountered by ordinary mortals who attempt using the typical remote control is the understanding of which button to push without "looking at" the keypad. More central to the problem is the necessity for maintaining an "aiming" of the remote control "at the to-be-controlled" apparatus. In other words, to change channels from (for example) channel 41 to channel 301 requires the entry of three keypunches, 3 plus 0 plus 1, in that order and quickly, lest the device time-out and the user has to start all over again. Convenient, error free remote control usage is further confounded by the smallness of a typical modern remote controller's layout. While it is true that there are special editions of remote controls available, these devices usually sacrifice some if not many of the functions found on the OEM remote control. Therefore, they are not necessarily useful for every situation.
In another U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,239 I teach a solution to a similar scenario. As my '239 patent says: "Individual keybutton entries are temporarily stored until the entry sequence is complete." It continues with: "When the entry sequence is completed the remote controller is then aimed at a remoteely controlled television set . . . " and further says: "The user initiates a SEND command and the stored entries are retrieved and transmitted from the remote controller device to the receptor of the remotely controlled device as a packet of data which acts to change channel selection or accomplish other tasks in the remotely controlled device." In other words, the user enters the necessary command steps while conveniently viewing the keypad and once all the entries are submitted, the user presses a single key which translates the command data as a composite packet of instructions to the remotely controlled device.
Later, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,874 I also show how the sequence of entries may be stored, converted into an alternate command option sent as a composite packet of command data to the remotely controlled device.
More recently in U.S. Pat. No. 7,057,673 I show the entry of a network acronym into the pseudo-alpha-numerical keypad (similar to that used with a telephone) that converts the acronym into an appropriate channel number (or other command) before being sent as a composite data packet by actuation of a single SEND key command.

Remote controller utilizing a proxy adapter to enable sending a plurality of commands by user actuation of a single-button


A method is provided herein which is particularly effective for removing or stripping varnish and paint from surfaces such as wood or metal which comprises activating NMP and/or BLO with about 1-30% by weight of an activator compound which is ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate (EEP).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to paint and varnish remover compositions, and more particularly, to a method of activating NMP and/or BLO for more effective paint and varnish removing action, and to compositions thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The term "varnish and paint remover" as applied herein refers to chemical compositions which can strip or facilitate stripping of coatings, such as, paint, varnish, lacquer, shellac, polyurethane finishes and enamels, used to protect substrates such as wood and metal and to beautify them.
Methylene chloride paint strippers are currently the industry standard for stripper performance. Methylene chloride strippers are effective for quickly softening most types of paints. The speed at which methylene chloride performs is believed to be due to its high solvent power coupled with high volatility as reflected by its extremely fast evaporation rate. This high volatility shortens the work life of methylene chloride paint strippers. Frequently, when methylene chloride paint strippers are used on thick accumulations of paint, more than one application is required since the work life is insufficient to permit penetration through the accumulation of paint.
Methylene chloride is a chlorinated solvent which is closely regulated for environment protection. Recently, it was discovered that methylene chloride can cause tumors in rats and mice. Since that discovery, the wide use of that solvent by industry and consumers has come under close scrutiny by federal regulatory agencies.
N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) has been employed in place of methylene chloride as the active ingredient in paint stripper compositions. Nelson, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,510, for example, described a composition for this use having low volatility which included about 20% to 90% by weight of NMP and 30% to 70% by weight of an aromatic hydrocarbon solvent.
Mixtures of NMP and .gamma.-butyrolactone (BLO) also have been used as liquid formulations for removing screen printing inks. Madsen, in U.S. Pat. NO. 4,836,950, for example, described such a liquid composition which included 1-25% by volume of NMP and/or BLO. Valasek, similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,721, described a composition which included 30-85% by weight of NMP and 10-35% by weight of an oxygenated solvent selected from esters and ethers. BLO was mentioned as a suitable ether, although butoxyethanol and cyclohexanone were preferred. Caster, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,758 described a method of removing paint with a lower alkyl substituted 2-oxazolidinone. In comparative results reported therein, it was disclosed that ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate had no effect on paint removal. McCullins, in British 1,487,737, described a paint remover composition for aerosol type paints in the form of a gel which included methyl ethyl ketone, ethyl acetae, ethoxyethanol and 2-ethoxyethyl acetate. This mixture of solvents was considered effective for paint sprayed graffiti as a viscous, transparent gel containing particles of silica or alumina in suspension. Palmer, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,810, described paint remover compositions of NMP and/or BLO, and at least 35 mole % of blends of alkyl naphthalenes and alkyl benzenes.
These and other compositions, however, have not proven particularly effective for removing paint and varnish from wood and metal surfaces, without containing objectionable halogenated or aromatic compounds. Furthermore, they do not possess the attributes of being biodegradable, non-flammable, having a low vapor pressure and low toxicity.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to satisfy the above criteria for an environmentally safe commercial product for removing paint and varnish from surfaces, and to perform such removal effectively with less material than other related products on the market today.
These and other objects and features of the invention will be made apparent from the following description of the invention.

Method of activating .alpha.-butyrolactone (BLO) with ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate (EEP) to provide improved varnish and paint remover solvents


A method for providing a laminate film with adhesive as a step in the preparatory process for manufacturing a laminate mold part using a support part, a method for applying a hot melt to a laminate film, a method for manufacturing a laminate mold part, using a method, a system for laminating a support part as well as a method for such a system produces especially high quality lamination and even if the support part, where the laminate film should be laminated, is not porous by applying the adhesive to the support part for bonding the macroscopically structured laminate film, so that there is a duct system. The air can flow through the duct system between the laminate film and the support part during the lamination process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for providing a lamination film with adhesive, a method for applying hot melt to a lamination film, the application for such a method, a plant for laminating a carrier member with a lamination film, as well as a method for upgrading a plant.
In particular, the invention relates to a method for laminating components with film, whereby an adhesive is so applied in grid pattern to the surface of the lamination film and/or the component, and that, after assembling the film and the component, the adhesive is arranged between the film and the component, and a channel system formed between the areas of applied adhesive to enable the uniform removal of the air lying between the component and the film (removal of the air by extraction and/or pressing out).
Furthermore, the invention relates to a laminated mold part that is obtained through the above-mentioned method, as well as the use of an adhesive grid pattern that is arranged between a component and a lamination film in order to reduce or avoid entrapping air during lamination of the component with the lamination film.
2. Description of the Related Art
The lamination of components by applying a negative pressure or vacuum, such as vacuum lamination or variants such as the in-mold graining (IMG) process and/or by means of pressing power, is widely used in industry.
In vacuum-assisted lamination methods, generally an airtight or partially air-permeable material (e.g. a decorative film) is laminated on a solid component. The adhesive used can be applied as a pre-coating on the film or the component.
In this process, the film can be heated and then applied to the component by applying a negative pressure. The heat energy required for the film forming can also be used for activation of the adhesive. A distinctive condition for the process is the air permeability (vacuum capability) of the substrate (component) to be laminated in combination with an airtight film. The latter can be achieved for example through an additional membrane.
While the vacuum capability is usually obtained by the use of porous materials such as wood-based materials or open-pore composite materials, in the case of airtight component materials, such as are typically produced by injection molding or partially air permeable component materials, such as, for example, in the case of fiber composites, special precautions need to be taken. These usually include the introduction of vacuum holes and the application of a lamination graining on the component, which allows extraction of the air contained between the film and component. The lamination graining gives rise to grain channels in the component through which the air located between the component and the film can be extracted.
The vacuum holes permit the extraction of the air between the film and the component by applying a negative pressure or vacuum. However, this is often not sufficient to avoid small to medium sized air pockets occurring. This may be caused, for example, by the geometry of the components, but also by the deposition process of the film and the limited capacity of the vacuum holes. Therefore, in the prior art, lamination graining is usually also applied to the component, which also allows further air extraction through the channels of the grain to the holes following the "first contact" of the film with the component. However, the application of this lamination graining to the component is technically complex and costly, especially since a sufficient grain typically requires a depth of 0.2 to 0.3 mm, which leads to a correspondingly higher use of material and also increases the overall weight of the component. This can represent up to 10 wt.-% of the component weight.
In the automotive sector, particularly for components in the interior of vehicles, i.e. typically two different processes are used in practice for the film lamination in the preferred application.
In a first method, the adhesive is applied by spraying it onto the component. In this case, a varnish-like adhesive application must be avoided as this can lead to the clogging of the vacuum holes by the adhesive (e.g. when using a dispersion or solvent adhesive).
In an alternative method, the adhesive is applied to the film (e.g. a hot melt substance). In this case, the hot melt adhesive is heated and activated with the film up to the typical required film deforming temperature (depending on the film: 120° C. to 210° C.).
In the latter process, the adhesive is a viscous liquid (usually a reactive or thermoplastic melt adhesive). This is the case even in the vacuum joining process. The viscous adhesive can easily clog the vacuum holes or grain channels because of its fluidity. This prevents the uniform extraction of the air and can thus favour the formation of air pockets. This results in visible but also invisible defects in the finished laminated molding.
In fact, the expert is aware that these kinds of defects caused by air pockets, often occur when using hot melt adhesives; the demands on grain quality, and the requirements with respect to the quality and depth of the grain as well as the number of holes are higher than in the case of the first-mentioned process, where the adhesive is sprayed on the component.

Method for providing a lamination film with adhesive, method for applying hot melt, application, lamination plant and method for upgrading such a plant


The present application discloses a method and system for interactive transmission of panoramic video, wherein the method comprises: determining, by a client, the location information of a user's current region of interest; requesting a server for video information of the region of interest by using the location information; and, acquiring, by the server, a panoramic video slice corresponding to the region of interest according to the location information, and transmitting the panoramic video slice to the client. With the present invention, resource overhead and a delay of transmission of panoramic video can be reduced.

With the rapid development of computer technology, there are more and more types of multimedia contained and more and more effects that can be shown. Some traditional ways of expression are more and more unable to meet requirements on ways of show of a majority of customers.
Panoramic video is a newly emerging media, and compared with traditional video, is characterized by a large field of vision, high resolution, a large amount of data, etc. By using the panoramic video, an observer can observe all of a surrounding scene by changing a direction of observation, leaving a point of view of the observer unchanged. While ordinary two-dimensional video only reflects a part of the panoramic video. Panoramic video is being used more and more in fields such as showing real estate, sightseeing spots, cars, hotels, campuses, culture and sports venues, corporate office environments, etc.
Generation of panoramic video is an image-stitching-oriented technique. First, real-time images of different angles are collected using a number of cameras, wherein the number of cameras required is related to angles of collection. Then, the images of different angles collected at the same time are stitched into a 360-degree panorama by using a seamless image stitching technique. Finally, the panorama is mapped onto a two-dimensional plane with a cylinder or sphere algorithm.

Method and system for interactive transmission of panoramic video


A system for communicating signals between a transmitter and a receiver using digital modulation techniques is provided. This invention is particularly adapted to meet the requirements of power line communication. In one preferred embodiment of this invention the modulation technique is differential binary phase shift key modulation. This system provides a low cost, simple delay and multiply process for the modulation and demodulation of data. This system lends itself to an ASIC implementation, thereby further reducing the cost of the system while improving the reliability of the system in a noisy environment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and systems for the communication of telephone and modem signals over AC power lines. More specifically, the invention relates to the use of the digital techniques of differential binary phase shift keying modulation techniques in AC power line communications.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of telephone and modem communications systems which take advantage of the AC power line for communications within a building or facility are well known in the art. Generally, these prior systems use analog frequency modulation techniques and fail to take advantage of digital processing and modulation techniques.
The reader is referred to the following U.S. patent documents for general background material. Each of these patents is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for the material contained therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,415 describes an apparatus and method, which provides PSK modulation utilizing a single balance mixer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,543 describes a method and apparatus for phase-coherently demodulating a multipath-impaired time division multiple access QPSK data timeslot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,452 describes a spread spectrum communications system that provides full-duplex voice/data radio communications with a single specified FCC ISM band.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,890 describes a combined telephone and electric power distribution system, wherein the signal conducting means and electric power conducting means are routed along-side each other to/from various utilization points.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,634 describes a method and system for conducting multiple access simultaneous telephone communications in full duplex either over the power lines of a building or using RF transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,301 describes a method and apparatus for combining. multipath spread-spectrum signals, that is accomplished by detecting an envelope of an input differential phase shift keyed signal communicated over a communication channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,913 describes a high frequency transmitter that comprises a large number of narrow band channels spaced over a broad bandwidth transmission, using differential phase shift key modulations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,629 describes a signal processing circuit that is provided with a frequency conversion circuit for converting a spread quadrature modulation signal of a carrier band into a baseband signal, a first correlator, a second correlator, a third correlator, a forth correlator spreading code, a decoding circuit, a first and second multiplier, a first and second adder, a judgment circuit, and a subtractor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,272 describes a digital communications receiver that provides joint MLSE equalization and diversity combining.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,777 describes a communications system programmable to operate at a selected one of multiple frequency ranges and any one of a plurality of modulation schemes and data rights including an open architectural bus line for linking a plurality of board level units.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,528,585 and 5,546,383 describe a power-conserving time division multiple access (TDMA) radio telephone system, in which a cluster of subscriber stations, remote from a base station, employ a common pool of frequency-agile modems, each of which digitally synthesizes, on a timeslot-by-timeslot basis, the different channel-identifying intermediate frequencies needed to support communications between several of the subscriber stations and the base station.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,422 describes an acknowledgement paging system, which fits within the existing infrastructure of a paging network and which provides low cost manufacture and low power operation while still enabling the acknowledgement paging over long distances.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,304 describes a code-division multiple-access receiver that carries out the following steps whenever it recognizes a symbol boundary in the received baseband signal: first it estimates the value of the symbol; next it estimates an interference signal and modifies the baseband signal. These steps are iterated for each symbol.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,506 describes a method for demodulating a received spread-spectrum signal using a minimum-shift-keyed (MSK) receiver.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,939 describes a digital correlator used in a receiving component of a spread spectrum communication system of a direct sequence modulation type.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,333 describes a communications system that is programmable to operate at a selected one of multiple frequency ranges and any one of a plurality of modulation schemes and data rights including an open architectural bus line for linking a plurality of board level units.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,802 describes a telephone auxiliary power distribution system in a building has a flexible multi-conductor signal and power distribution cable; which cable originates from a central signal and power management facility located near the point where the telephone utility line enters the building and extends from there to each of numerous locations within the building.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,527 describes a communications system programmable to operate at a selected one of multiple frequency ranges and any one of a plurality of modulations schemes and data rights including an open architectural bus line for linking a plurality of board level units.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,313 describes a decoding apparatus that decodes a coherent, differentially encoded multi-level phase shift keying (DEPSK) modulated signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,428 describes a wireless LAN includes first stations adapted to operate at a 1 or 2 Mbps data rate and second stations adapted to operate at 1, 2, 5 or 8 Mbps data rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,872 describes a communications system that is programmable to operate at a selected one of multiple frequency ranges and any one of a plurality of modulations schemes and data rights, that includes an open architectural bus line for linking a plurality of board level units.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,571 describes a non-coherent digital receiver of a spread spectrum communication system for baseband synchronizing of a reference pseudo-noise sequence with a received pseudo-noise sequence modulated in a received spread spectrum signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,480 describes a multi-rate wireless communications system that supports a plurality of distributed user terminals in full-duplex simultaneous communications with a central base station, where each user terminal is provided on demand with one of multiple bit rates at a negotiated QOS.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,402 describes transmitter-receiver systems and circuits which employ binary and quadrature Feher""s modulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,467 describes an interactive microprocessor based wireless communication device that includes sound and data transceivers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,017 describes a method of, and receiver for, receiving and demodulating M-ary FSK symbols, where M equals two or four, comprising over sampling a received signal to obtain sub-symbols which are treated as repeated DBPSK xcfx80/4 DQPSK symbols, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,127 describes an apparatus for electrical line communications using FM video modulation, and which includes FM video modulation circuits and an impedance matching coupler at each of two or more locations along a pair of line.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,810 describes a method for demodulating a received spread-spectrum signal that uses a minimum-shift-keyed (MSK) receiver.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,692 describes a cordless telephone system connectable to the public switched telephone network having a base station and one or more handsets communicating with the base station by an RF link utilizing a DBPSK I and Q demodulator with a digital AGC loop.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,707 describes a differential detecting apparatus that includes samplers, a differential detection calculating units, and two post-detection filters.
It is desirable to provide a system for communicating analog audio (voice) and/or digital data signals over the AC power lines. It is particularly desirable to provide such a system, and which makes use of differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK) digital modulation techniques.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a system for the communicating analog audio (voice) and/or digital data signals over the AC power lines, using a differential binary phase shift keying modulation technique.
Another object of this invention is to provide a system for the communication of analog audio (voice) and/or digital data signals that includes a DBPSK modulator and a DBPSK demodulator.
A further object of this invention is to provide a system for the communication of analog audio (voice) and/or digital data signals that lends itself to implementation in an ASIC because of its simplicity and digital modulation/demodulation techniques.
Another object of this invention is to provide a system for the communication of analog audio (voice) and/or digital data signals that minimizes the cost and complexity required of the modulation system.
Additional objects, advantages, and other novel features of this invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned with the practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of this invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Still other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description wherein there is shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention, simply by way of illustration of one of the modes best suited to carry out this invention. As it will be realized, this invention is capable of other different embodiments, and its several details, and specific electronic circuits, are capable of modification in various aspects without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions should be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
To achieve the foregoing and other objectives, and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, the DBPSK modulator is provided with a digitizer, a summer, a differential encoder, phase shifter and a transmitter. While the DBPSK demodulator is provided with receiver, a delay circuit, and a mixer.

Digital wireless phone/modem jack capable of communications over the power lines using differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK)


Provided is a checking apparatus for array electrode substrate, which can check an array electrode substrate in non-contact and at high speed. A probe assembly includes a plurality of electro-optic probes arranged in the staggered relation. Since this arrangement uses a plurality of (for example, eight, sixteen, twenty, forty, etc.) small electro-optic probes, it becomes equivalent to an arrangement of an elongate electro-optic probe, thereby enabling simultaneous measurement of potentials of numerous unit electrodes. Namely, because a measurement light beam is incident into each electro-optic probe and each reflection-return light is detected by a photodector, potentials of unit electrodes in a number corresponding to the number of electro-optic probes can be simultaneously measured. Since deflection of the measurement light beams in the array direction is synchronized with relative movement between the electrode arrays and the probe assembly in a direction perpendicular to the array direction, after completion of measurement of an electrode array in a certain line, next measurement of an electrode array in a next line, can be started, as a result, enabling continuous potential measurement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a checking apparatus for checking electric properties of array electrode substrates, for example used in checking electrodes in a LCD panel (liquid crystal display panel).
2. Related Background Art
There are known apparatus for measuring a potential of an electrode on a panel, utilizing the electro-optic effect (E-O effect). With the apparatus, an electro-optic probe (E-O probe) made of a material having the electro-optic effect, is brought into the vicinity of the electrode to cause an index change according to an electric field, a laser light beam is radiated onto the electro-optic probe, and a change of a polarization state of reflection-return light is detected, there by checking the potential of the electrode on the pane.
The conventional technology of such apparatus is described, for example in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 64-9370, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 64-18071 (first reference), Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 64-18072, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 64-18073, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 3-244141 (second reference), "IEICE TRANS ELECTRON., VOL. E76-C, NO. 1 JANUARY 1993, PP64-67" (third reference), and "IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-22, NO. 1, JANUARY 1986, PP69-78, PP79-93."
Among these, the first reference describes the technique that can be utilized for measuring potentials of many electrodes in an array electrode substrate such as a liquid crystal display panel, in which a large electro-optic probe is used and a linerary polarized measurement laser beam is scanned, thereby enabling measurement of a two-dimensional potential distribution. Further, the second and third references describe techniques which can allow simultaneous measurement of potential distribution in an area including a lot of electrodes by guiding parallel light with some spread to an electro-optic modulator, instead of a finely focused light beam.

Checking apparatus for array electrode substrate


The present invention provides carbon quantum dots, preparation method and uses thereof. The preparation method of the carbon quantum dots comprises the following steps: (1) preparing a dispersion of carbon based material; (2) mixing a solution of halogenated quinone with the dispersion of carbon based material and preparing a dispersion of carbon based-halogenated quinone composite material by halogenated quinone grafting method; (3) adding a solution of H2O2 to the dispersion of carbon based-halogenated quinone composite material and carrying out reaction thereof, obtaining reaction products; (4) carrying out solid-liquid separation to the reaction products, with the resulting filtrate continuing to react, thus obtaining a dispersion of carbon quantum dots. This method adopts metal-free catalytic oxidation, the process of which is safe, convenient and low-cost, and is performed under a mild reaction condition without adding additional substances which are difficult to be separated. The obtained quantum dots have a good dispersibility and can be easily separated, also can achieve pollution treatment using pollutants. In addition, the prepared carbon quantum dots have a broad application prospect in the fields of organic pollutant degradation, electrochemical sensors, super capacitors, luminescent materials and photoelectric devices, etc.

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have a lateral size of below 100 nm, a discrete electronic belt, typical semiconductor characteristics, photoluminescence property, ultra-small size and nontoxicity, and thus exhibit a broad application prospect as a sensing electrode material.
Methods for synthesizing CQDs include hydrothermal method, electrochemical method, chemically stripping carbon fiber method, UV etching method, solution chemical method, ultrasonic wave method and microwave method, etc. However, due to complicated process, complex doping conditions, harsh reaction conditions, time consumption, low yield and the damage of the aromatic carbon frame, large-scale production and application of CQDs are limited. Therefore, designing a simple, effective, economical and environmental-friendly method for preparing carbon quantum dots materials has a very important research value and industrial significance.
Document (Photo-Fenton reaction of graphene oxide: A new strategy to prepare graphene quantum dots for DNA cleavage. Acs Nano 6.8 (2012): 6592-6599) reports a strategy for preparing graphene quantum dots by Fenton method, and the principle thereof is that: GO is oxidized directly by the hydroxyl radicals generated by Fenton reaction, producing a large amount of GQDs. This method is simple and convenient, but the addition of iron ions will make the separation of smaller size graphene quantum dots extremely difficult. Document (Molecular mechanism for metal-independent production of hydroxyl radicals by hydrogen peroxide and halogenated quinone. PNAS 104 (2007): 17575-17578) reports that tetrachlorobenzoquinone, which is a metabolite of chlorophenol, can react with H2O2 to produce hydroxyl radicals by a process independent of metal ions, and meanwhile halogen atoms are removed from chloroquinone for detoxification. This method has a low cost and can achieve degradation of pollutants simultaneously, and therefore is an ideal new preparation method for radicals.
However, so far, there has not been a method for preparing quantum dots using radicals produced by a metal-free catalysis.

Method for preparation of carbon quantum dots and application

INSTITUTE OF PROCESS ENGINEERING, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


System and method for tracking assets comprises determining if an asset is inside a geofence area, using a first set of asset monitoring parameters to monitor operation of the asset, if the asset is inside the geofence area, and using a second set of asset monitoring parameters to monitor operation of the asset, if the asset is outside the geofence area. The invention further comprises a system and method for providing one or more competitors with an asset tracking device, wherein the asset tracking device allows each competitor's location to be monitored, defining one or more geofence areas on a racetrack, and detecting when the competitors enter a designated geofence area.

Geofences are used to define geographical areas so that vehicle location can be monitored with respect to those areas. A vehicle's location can be determined using a Global Positioning System (GPS) as is known. The vehicle's current location can be compared to a geofence area to determine if the vehicle is inside or outside the geofence area. A geofence is typically defined using a simple geographic shape, such as a circle, square or rectangle. For example, a circular geofence is defined by a central point and a radius is assigned to that point. All of the area within the radius around the central point is within the geofenced area. Areas having one or more irregularly shaped boundaries are not accurately represented by simple geometric shapes. There are many areas, such as neighborhoods, cities, towns, industrial parks, roads, and the like, that cannot be adequately or precisely defined using simple shapes such as circles or rectangles that are available in current geofence applications. To geofence these areas, a large geofence area that overlaps both the target area and some of the surrounding area is often used to geofence such irregularly shaped locations.
Alternatively, multiple overlapping geofence areas must be created, such as a series of overlapping circles or squares, to cover areas such as a road, highway, or a region or shape on a lake, ocean, or river with a geofence. To determine if vehicles are within the geofence area, there must be an evaluation against all of the individual geofenced areas instead of one comprehensive area. Similar to the large, overlapping geofence area discussed above, to ensure that all of the target area is covered, these smaller individual geofence areas typically overlap some locations that are not intended to be within the target geofence area. Accordingly, the accuracy of the geofence varies depending upon the shape of the target area and the available geofencing tools.

System and method for defining areas of interest and modifying asset monitoring in relation thereto


In a direct sequence/code division multiple access (DS/CDMA) type interference canceller receiving apparatus having a delaying unit for delaying a reception signal into zeroth through (N-1)-th delayed signals, zeroth through (N-1)-th path receivers for demodulating the zeroth thorough the (N-1)-th delayed signals into zeroth through (N-1)-th demodulated signals, and a combining unit for combining the zeroth through the (N-1)-th demodulated signals into a combined signal, an n-th path receivers includes an n-th follow-up path detection unit for detecting an n-th follow-up path for the n-th path receiver on the basis of a peculiar spread code in response to an n-th coefficient control signal. The n-th follow-up path detection unit produces n-th follow-up path information indicative of the n-th follow-up path. A follow-up path control unit controls path reception timings for the zeroth through the (N-1)-th path receivers on the basis of searched path information supplied from a multi-path searcher and zeroth through the (N-1)-th follow-up path information. The follow-up path control unit supplies the delaying unit with a path reception timing signal indicative of first through (N-1)-th delay amounts for first through (N-1)-th delay circuits in the delaying unit.

This invention relates to a mobile communication system and, in particular, to an interference canceller type receiving apparatus for use in a direct sequence/code division multiple access (DS/CDMA) cellular type mobile radio communication system.
As is well known in the art, various multiple access types have been adapted in a mobile radio communication system. One of the multiple access type is a CDMA cellular type. The CDMA cellular type mobile radio communication system assigns to each channel with a particular code, transmits to the same repeater a modulated wave to which a carrier having the same carrier frequency is spectrum-spread with the code, establishes code synchronization in each receiving side, and identifies a desired channel. The CDMA cellular type mobile radio communication system may be called a SSMA (spread spectrum multiple access) cellular type mobile radio communication system.
The CDMA type mobile communication system comprises a plurality of mobile stations and a plurality of radio base stations each of which serves as the repeater. Each radio base station is called a base transceiver station in the art. In addition, each mobile station is referred to as a terminal. As described above, inasmuch as the plurality of mobile station carry out communication using the carrier with the same carrier frequency, it is necessary for the CDMA type mobile radio communication system to be uniform reception energy of an upward communication channel from each mobile station communicating with the radio base station without a position of the mobile station.
In order to be uniform the reception energy in the radio base station, the CDMA type mobile radio communication system carries out transmission power control for the upward communication channel as described in TIA (Telecommunication Industry Association)/EIA (Electronic Industries Association)/IS-95.
The CDMA cellular type mobile radio communication systems are classified roughly into a direct sequence (DS) type and a frequency hopping (FH) type. As is indicated by its name, the direct sequence (DS) type is a type to realize spectrum spreading by directly multiplying a signal to be spectrum spread by a signal having an extremely broader band than that of the signal to be spectrum spread. On the other hand, the frequency hopping type (FH) is a type to realize spectrum spreading by hopping from a frequency to another frequency without fixing a carrier frequency to a particular frequency.
The DS/CDMA cellular type mobile radio communication system comprises a plurality of radio base stations which simultaneously use a carrier having the same carrier frequency. In addition, the DS/CDMA cellular type mobile radio communication system further comprises at least one mobile station which is assigned with its peculiar code (spread code). On transmission, the mobile station widely spreads its own signal by the peculiar spread code to transmit it to a transmission path. On reception, the mobile station receives from one or more radio base stations, as a reception signal, a plurality of path propagation signals which are propagated via different propagation paths. This is because the reception signal is affected by multi-path fading in a transmission path under environment of the mobile communication system.
In order to carry out reception operation at good quality, RAKE reception for separating and combining the different propagation paths is adopted in a DS/CDMA type receiving apparatus. On the RAKE reception, it is necessary for the DS/CDMA type receiving apparatus to follow temporal variations in the different propagation paths. In a conventional DS/CDMA type receiving apparatus, delay-lock loop (DLL) circuits are used as a path follow-up method in the manner which will later be described in conjunction with FIG. 1.
Such a delay-lock loop is described, for example, by Mitsuo Yokoyama in a book published by Kagaku Gijutsu Shuppan Sha, 1988, pages 290 to 311, under the title of "Spread Spectrum Communication Systems." In addition, the DS/CDMA type receiving apparatus using the delay-lock loop circuits is described, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications of Tokkai No. Sho 57-65,935 or JP-A 57-65,935, of Tokkai No. sho 63-13,440 or JP-A 63-13,440, of Tokkai No. Hei 6-29,948 or JP-A 6-29,948, or the like.
On the other hand, a multi-access interference becomes an issue in the DS/CDMA system. This counter-measure is, for example, proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication of Tokkai No. Hei 7-30,519 or JP-A 7-30,519 which discloses a CDMA receiver with less reception characteristic deterioration against increase in the number of simultaneous operation users even in the environment of high speed fading or multi-path in the DS/CDMA system. According to JP-A 7-30,519, a signal subjected to coding multiplex is received by an antenna and band-limited by a reception filter. A signal in the designated timing is inputted to an interference elimination equalizer. Each interference equalizer regards a multi-path component of its own station in other timing equivalently as an other station signal and eliminates the signal together with the other station signal to detect only a multi-path component in the designated timing. Each multi-path component is multiplied with a synthesis weight coefficient and the result is synthesized at a synthesizer and a decision signal is obtained by a decision device.
In addition, JP-A 7-30,519 proposes a method of adaptively controlling tap coefficients in inverse spread filters. This method is called an adaptive interference canceller method which is abbreviated to an AIC method. In the AIC method, the delay lock loop circuits fall into disuse. This is because the AIC method automatically follows slow temporal variations in the different propagation paths by adaptively changing the tap coefficients in the inverse spread filters.
However, the CDMA receiver according to JP-A 7-30,519 is disadvantageous as described hereunder. Firstly, some of a plurality of rake fingers follow the same propagation path during use. Secondly, a departure of following occurs if propagation environment rapidly changes or if the environment of the multi-path dynamically changes. Thirdly, it is difficult to catch a new effective propagation path if it happens under the condition that the propagation environment rapidly changes.
Various other CDMA receivers related to the present invention are already known. By way of example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication of Tokkai No. Hei 6-77,928 or JP-A 6-77,928 discloses a spread spectrum communication synchronizing system which is capable of shorten the time up synchronization by detecting a peak with N pieces of matching filters and selecting the maximum of added values. According to JP-A 6-77,928, an inverse spread arithmetic part delays an input signal with a clock at the velocity of N multiple of a reciprocal of a spread rate while using a delay line, where N represents a natural number which is not less than two. A weighting coefficient for inverse spread is multiplied for every N pieces of taps of the delay line. Outputs of the same order in the N pieces of taps are synthesized. Thus, the N pieces of matching filters for performing the arithmetic of inverse spread are formed. On the other hand, N pieces of added value arithmetic parts are provided. Outputs of the respective matching filter are delayed by another delay line. Peak points at the outputs of respective taps in the other delay line are added and outputted. Further, the maximum value of the added value arithmetic part is selected by a maximum value selection part. This maximum value is supplied to the delay lines while controlling clock timing at a clock timing control part so as to increase the value.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication of Tokkai No. Hei 7-30,514 or JP-A 7-30,514 discloses a spread spectrum receiver which is capable of eliminating a multi-path interference signal in a received spread spectrum signal for a base band. According to JP-A 7-30,514, a matching filter applies inverse spread spectrum processing to a reception signal subjected to spread spectrum processing by using a code. A transmission line estimate means replies a pilot signal included in the reception signal to estimate a transmission characteristic of a multi-path transmission line to produce a tap coefficient. A transversal filter uses a tap coefficient as a tap weight to produce a maximum ratio synthesis signal of a pulse train. A multi-path interference recovery means responds to the tap coefficient, a demodulation signal and an inverse spread code to recover a multi-path interference signal. A subtracter means subtracts an interference signal from a delayed synthesis signal resulting from the synthesis signal delayed by a delay means and a discrimination means discriminates the subtraction signal to provide the output of a demodulation signal.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication of Tokkai No. Hei 7-273,713 or JP-A 7-273,713 discloses a reception equipment, a base station reception system, and a mobile station reception system which are capable of providing demodulated data of a lower error rate by suppressing the influence of interference signal from another station and suppressing the influence of multi-path in the reception system to which CDMA is applied. According to JP-A 7-273,713, a synchronizing signal is detected in a synchronizing signal detection part, and amplitude information and phase information of a main wave and delay wave are generated from this reproduced synchronizing signal. A synchronizing signal eliminating part uses the reproduced synchronizing signal to eliminate the synchronizing signal from the signal from a radio demodulation part and gives an obtained reception signal to another station interference eliminating part. Other station interference eliminating parts use the amplitude information and the phase information to estimate the signals of first through N-th stations while eliminating the intra-station interference from the reception signal. Estimated signals are subjected to correlation detection in correlation detection parts to obtain demodulated signals of the first through the N-th stations.

Receiving apparatus for use in CDMA type mobile radio communication system comprising a plurality of path receivers each including a follow-up path detection unit


The lighting control apparatus has a memory unit, an operation input unit and a control unit. The memory unit stores an outer frame and addresses of luminaires and operating devices. The operation input unit inputs to designate a position where a small area is provided in a predetermined area on a layout drawing. The control unit provides, based on the outer frame and the addresses, a layout drawing that illustrates positions where luminaires and operating devices are arranged in the predetermined range within the outer frame. The control unit determines the luminaire and the operating device arranged in the small area. The control unit gives an operation right of the luminaire arranged in the small area to the operating device arranged in the same small area.

Usually a plurality of luminaires are provided on each floor of a building. Furthermore, on each floor, a plurality of rooms can be formed by combining inner wall arrangements. The luminaires arranged in a plurality of formed rooms may preferably be operated by switches and the like provided on walls and posts in the rooms.
Conventionally, it is suggested that an address of each luminaire and an address of each operating device are registered, each position on which a partition is arranged is detected by a sensor, and a luminaire and an operating device that have an address corresponding to the room formed by the partition are combined (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
It is also generally known that, instead of providing a sensor that detects arrangements of partitions, a building manager sets an input terminal for lighting control to combine luminaires and operating devices arranged in the same room.

Lighting control apparatus, lighting control system and lighting control method


A method and apparatus for providing information to a plurality of users based on the relevancy of the information to the users are disclosed. An incoming message is received. Similarity scores are generated indicating similarities of the incoming message to features of a plurality of messages. Relevancy scores are generated for the plurality of users, the relevancy scores indicating relevancies of the incoming message to the plurality of users based on the similarity scores and a plurality of user profiles including information descriptive of the plurality of users' preferences for the features of the plurality of users. Message information derived from the incoming message, the relevancy scores, and the plurality of user profiles is delivered to at least some of the plurality of users.

A variety of computer-based systems for facilitating communications among users have been developed. For example, electronic mail (email) systems allow users to send messages to one or more specified recipients. The specified recipients of a message may retrieve and read the message at any time, and may respond to the message or forward it to other users. Email systems typically provide the ability to create mailing lists to facilitate communication among groups of users having common roles or interests. News services (also referred to as "clipping services") deliver to users selected news articles covering topics of interest to the users. Such news services typically select which news articles to deliver to users by comparing words in the news articles to keywords provided by the users. Electronic bulletin board systems allow groups of users to create electronic bulletin boards, also referred to as "newsgroups," that typically correspond to a particular topic. Any user who subscribes to a newsgroup may post messages to the newsgroup and read messages posted to the newsgroup by other subscribed users. Electronic "chat rooms" enable users to communicate with each other in real-time by entering messages that are immediately communicated to and viewable by other users in the same chat room. The public Internet is increasingly being used as a medium for these and other forms of electronic communication.
One problem associated with such communication systems is that of "information overload." Users of such systems often find themselves presented with such a large volume of information (e.g., email messages or newsgroup postings) that they find it difficult or impossible to manually examine all of the information in order to identify the information that is relevant to them. As a result, users may fail to receive or read information that is relevant to them and to engage in potentially fruitful communications. Similarly, users who transmit information using such communications systems may fail to reach desirable recipients because such recipients are unable to separate relevant from irrelevant messages.
A variety of automated and semi-automated systems have been developed to help users organize and filter information received using electronic communications systems. For example, some systems attempt to deliver messages only to users to whom the messages are relevant. Such systems typically allow each user to define a set of preferences that indicate the user's interests. Such preferences may, for example, include keywords that describe the user's interests. Typically, such systems store incoming messages in a database as they are received by the system. When a certain number of messages have been received, the system performs a query on the database using each user's preferences. Each query typically produces scores for the messages in the database indicating the relative relevancies of the messages. The system uses these scores to determine which messages stored in the database are sufficiently relevant to forward to the corresponding user.
One problem with such conventional systems is that they require that multiple messages be received by the system before the relevancies of the messages can be determined. This requirement delays the delivery of incoming messages to users of the system. Such systems may therefore not be appropriate for environments in which communications need to be delivered quickly, such as enterprise email systems.
Another problem with such conventional systems is that their performance degrades as the number of system users increases. As described above, such systems perform a database query for each user of the system. The number of queries that must be performed therefore increases in proportion to the number of system users. Performance of such queries on large databases of messages can impose a significant load on the system and further delay the transmission of communications to appropriate recipients.
A further problem with such conventional systems is that users of such systems have limited control over the number and frequency of messages they receive from the system. Defining user preferences using keywords primarily serves to define the subject matter in which the user is interested, but does not place any bounds on the number or frequency of messages that the system will deliver to the user. As a result, users of such systems may experience "down" times during which they are ready and willing to receive, read, and respond to messages but during which they receive few messages or none at all. Similarly, users of such systems may be overloaded by a flood of messages that match the users' preferences. Such systems, therefore, fail to address a primary aspect of the problem of information overload.
Similar problems arise in systems that allow users to define a fixed relevancy threshold for incoming messages. Such systems compare the computed relevancy score of each incoming message to the fixed relevancy threshold defined by each user to determine whether to forward the incoming message to each user. When the system receives a large number of messages that exceed a user's relevancy threshold, the user will be overwhelmed with incoming messages. Similarly, when the system receives few messages that exceed a user's relevancy threshold, the user will receive few messages, even if the user is willing and available to read additional messages. Use of fixed thresholds, therefore, does not allow the frequency with which messages are delivered to users to change in response to the frequency and relevancy of incoming messages or to the preferences or activity levels of users.
Some systems allow users to set a fixed limit on the number of incoming messages to be delivered to them periodically (e.g., each day). The problems associated with such systems are similar to those described above. For example, if a large number of highly-relevant messages are received by the system in one day, the user will fail to receive relevant messages. Similarly, if the system receives many low-relevancy messages in one day, the user will receive few messages during the day, even if the user is willing and available to read more messages. Such systems, therefore, fail to respond to users' changing preferences and activity levels of users.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for distributing information to users


A method for upgrading software is described. According to the invention, in response to operation of the software on a first platform, a connection is established between the first platform and a remote platform. Where first version data associated with the software are different from second version data from the remote platform, a portion of the software is overwritten with first updated code from the remote platform.

The present invention relates to a method for providing software technical support from a remote location via, for example, the Internet. More specifically, the present invention provides a method by which software upgrades and fixes for software bugs may be incorporated into a customer's software from the remote location.
Once a software producing company has sold a software product to its customer, it is extremely important to keep track of these customers and to update the software periodically. No software program is ever bug free; in fact, the software industry is quite accustomed to re-releasing newer versions of software programs on a periodic basis in order to correct errors in the software. These later releases may add new features to the software, may correct minor problems, or often correct critical errors in the software. Because the performance of a software program is important for customers, it is in a software company's best interest to release these later versions of software to its customers and to insure that the newer software versions are received and installed correctly.
However, numerous obstacles are present that thwart even the best efforts of a conscientious software company to periodically update its software products with newer versions for all of its customers. One problem is that few customers who buy a software program go through the formalities of registering the program and sending the registration back to the software company. A registration form allows a software company to keep track of purchasers of its software, their addresses, contact persons, the version purchased, etc. However, few such software registration forms are received by software vendors. This makes it extremely difficult for a software company to determine to whom regular updates should be sent. For those software companies that update software regularly (such as quarterly) or may need to correct critical software bugs, this lack of software registration presents a real problem. And even if a registration form has been received, it is often difficult to figure out exactly to whom the new software version should be directed. Individuals change roles within an organization, organizations merge, engineers leave, etc., all making it extremely difficult to figure out to whom within an organization a new software version should be sent. It is also important that new versions of software be sent to a responsible person within the organization to ensure that all computers running the software are updated with the new version, and that the installation is done correctly. However, even with such competent individuals, errors in installation.
Another problem with releasing new versions of software to customers is the problem of distribution. In order to release a new version of the software, the vendor must purchase floppy or compact disks to hold the software, copy the software onto the disks, label the disks, determine who the appropriate customers and contacts are, and label and mail these disks to the correct individual. But as mentioned above, even if these disks containing the latest software version arrive at the correct location, there is no guarantee that the software will be installed correctly. Any problems encountered with the software, either due to bugs or incorrect installation will undoubtedly be blamed upon the software company that has sold the software program.
It is clearly in the best interests of a software company to ensure that updated versions of its software are timely received by the correct individuals within one of its customers, and correctly installed.
Another problem encountered by software companies is the identification and correction of software bugs encountered by customers in the course of using their software.
Typically, a customer receiving an error message while using software will call the software company and relate the circumstances surrounding the problem. Such a user may be able to relate generally what he was doing at the time, describe the problem that occurred, and report any error ID number that was produced. However, it is rare that specific details involving computer configuration, other programs running, and the status of internal variables are reported. Essentially, the problem is that the customer is in a location isolated from the software company when the problem occurs and has no means of transferring a "snapshot" of his system at the time the error occurs.
Of course, if the customer discontinues use of the software, ignores the problem, or otherwise chooses not to contact the software company with news of the error, the software company is put at a disadvantage. In these situations, because the vendor does not hear about the occurrence of the problem, it is not given the opportunity to correct it. Because errors in software can be extremely complex and subtle, it is very important for a software company to know exactly the circumstances under which the problem occurred in order to be able to reproduce the problem and to solve it. For customers using the software at a remote location on a remote computer, it is unlikely and extremely difficult that a customer will be able to transfer all of the information concerning such a problem back to the software company.
It is therefore desirable that a technique be provided by which a software vendor can track customers, upgrade customer software with newer versions, and correct software bugs from remote locations.

Method for providing remote software technical support


In a hydraulic control arrangement for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle having a parking lock activation system wherein operating fluid is supplied via a parking lock slide valve to a first parking lock pressure chamber for moving a parking lock-up piston in one direction into a locking position or moving the parking lock piston in an opposite direction, whereby operating fluid is released from the first parking lock pressure chamber via a discharge slide valve by way of which the first parking brake pressure chamber is connected to a tank for releasing the parking lock-up.

The invention relates to a hydraulic control arrangement for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle with a parking lock activation system.
DE 101 36 425 A1 describes a hydraulic control arrangement with a parking lock activation system for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle. The lock activation system has a locking slide valve in the form of a switching valve and a locking piston-cylinder unit with a locking piston. By supplying operating fluid via the locking slide valve to a first locking pressure chamber, the locking piston can be displaced in a first activation direction. When the locking piston is displaced in a second activation direction contrary to the first activation direction, operating fluid is removed from the first locking pressure chamber. The operating fluid removed from the first pressure chamber upon displacement of the locking piston in the second activation direction flows via the switching valve to a tank. In order to displace the locking piston in the second activation direction, operating fluid is conducted via the locking slide valve into a second locking pressure chamber, the first pressure chamber being separated from the second pressure chamber by the locking piston.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic control unit for an automatic transmission, by means of which a parking lockup can be quickly and securely activated.

Hydraulic control arrangement for an automatic transmission


A barrier synchronization device for realizing barrier synchronization of at least 2 processor cores belonging to a same synchronization group among a plurality of processor cores is included in a multi-core processor having a plurality of processor cores, and when two or more processor cores in that multi-core processor belong to the same synchronization group, the included barrier synchronization device is used for realizing barrier synchronization.

Computer systems are being required to achieve higher processing speeds and larger processing volume (throughput). This increases the importance of distributed processing, which can be realized by using plural processors. In order to meet the requirements of both higher processing speed and larger processing volume at adequate cost, distributed processing has to be realized at a high efficiency. Barrier synchronization is one technique that can realize distributed processing at a high efficiency, and is widely used for high-performance computer systems nowadays.
To perform barrier synchronization, plural processors are divided into synchronization groups so that the progress of processes is managed in units of synchronization groups. Under management using this method, the execution target is shifted from a currently executed process to the next process when all processors belonging to a synchronization group have finished the process that they are currently executing. Barrier synchronization devices for realizing barrier synchronization are disclosed, for example, by Patent Documents 1 through 3.
In order to manage the progress of processes in units of synchronization groups, each processor has to report the execution status of a process to other processors, and when each processor has entered a situation in which it has to shift to the next process, the processor also has to report this fact to other processors. Accordingly, distributed processing is roughly classified into two portions; a parallel processing portion and a coordinated operation portion. A parallel processing portion executes process that respective processors have to execute parallelly. A coordinated operation portion is executed in order to make processors operate in a coordinated manner. In order to increase efficiency in distributed processing, it is important to minimize the ratio (time period) needed to execute a coordinated operation portion (synchronization process).
In recent years, improvement in semiconductor technology has promoted commercialization of multi-core processor having plural processor cores (each processor core having various units for decoding and executing instructions, a registers, cache memory, and the like) each having a computing function. In this type of multi-core processor, synchronization groups are assigned to individual processor cores. This assignment can bring about a situation in which all processor cores belonging to the same synchronization group are in one multi-core processor. It is thought to be important to take this situation into consideration when a time period taken to execute a coordinated operation portion is to be reduced.
Improvement in semiconductor technique has contributed to an increase in processing speed and circuit density of processors and to an increase in capacity of memory. As a result, higher computation performance is realized using an area smaller than realized by conventional techniques, and such areas have become larger. However, the speed of accessing main memory is still lower than the processing speed of a processor. Rather, the gap between processing the speed of processors and operation speed of main memory has become more serious. Accordingly, when some information is transferred via main memory, a period of time taken to execute a coordinated operation portion is influenced by the operation speed of the main memory, which is lower. This point as well has to be taken into consideration in reducing a period of time taken to execute a coordinated operation portion.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 6-187303
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 9-6734
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-71109

Barrier synchronization method, device, and multi-core processor


A document with a color pattern which is resistant to forgery by photo reproducing process, at least a portion of the color pattern comprising, a coloring material having a spectral reflection factor curve which is relatively high at a wavelength in at least one of the areas below 450 nm and about 650 nm, with respect to the rest of the curve. A method is also disclosed for avoiding reproduction of a document having colored areas using photo reproducing processes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general, to a document with a pattern or an object representing colored patterns thereon which is difficult to make reproductions of, and more specifically, to patterns made with some specific kinds of coloring matter, which, when reproducted using processes which utilize photosensitive emulsion, including color photography and color copying process, reproductions in a color entirely different from that of the original. Such documents or objects can be utilized as an object whose reproduction is undesirable such as paper money, various kinds of securities and the like, resultantly preventing forgery of such articles of value.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The recently developed technology for reproduction of colored pattern which utilizes sensitive emulsion, such as color photography and the color reproduction process by means of color copyers, is able to reproduce patterns in a color which can be practically recognized to be identical to that of the original. A potential application of this convenient technology to colored objects whose reproduction is undesirable may cause social problems possibly even criminal acts. Particularly when it is utilized for reproduction of paper money, stock-certificates, bond certificates, atamps, checks, drafts, bills of lading, letters of guarantee, credit cards, various certificates, various coupons, various slips, and/or the objects with such nature, and if the reproductions of such objects should circulate in the market place or through various transactions, it would evidently cause disturbances for economic and financial activities, and it would be serious enough not to allow oversight thereof from the viewpoint of maintaining social justice.
Included in the means available in the prior art and which are applicable for prevention of forgery of such objects of value are:
(1) Employment of particular kinds of paper such as the paper having watermarks therein,
(2) Utilization of particular patterns such as fine, minute and/or complicated background camouflages or ground designs and hidden marks,
(3) Utilization of a particular process for representation of patterns such as mandatory employment of particular and sophisticated graving machines for production of plates,
(4) Employment of a particular, sophisticated and expensive printing process such as Sammel druck machines. Each of these means is inevitably accompanied by costwise disadvantage. In addition, the recent development in the aforementioned technology for reproduction of colored patterns to be made by utilizing photosensitive emulsion which is excellent in performance and simple in handling operation, has added another disadvantage to these conventional means for prevention of reproduction of objects representing colored patterns thereon. When a colored object, hereinafter refered to as a document, is reproduced either directly with such color reproduction technology or indirectly with such technology which is utilized for production of blocks or plates with which printing will be made, some magnitude of discrepancy would be recognized between an original and reproduction from the viewpoint of visibility, dimensional distortion of patterns and/or paper quality. However, it is not seldom that even experts have a difficult time identifying a colored object as a reproduction. Particularly, in view of the fact that the ordinary transactions are carried out by personnel which is nonprofessional in the technical field without using time for making sure of the validity of the paper money, the securities and/or the documents to be transferred by some means including direct comparison with the genuine piece, it would be unrealistic to assume that the aforementioned color reproduction technology will not be applied to the undesirable purposes of forgery.
As a result, it is a social demands to provide a document with colored patterns that can be used as valuable documents, which is difficult to make a reproduction of by means of a process for reproduction of colored patterns to be made by utilizing photosensitive emulsion.

Forgery resistant document with colored areas and method for thwarting reproduction of same


1,6-Naphthyridine derivatives of the formula: ##STR1## in which R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are, independently, hydrogen, alkyl of 1 to 3 carbon atoms, halo, or trifluoromethyl;. R.sup.3 is hydrogen, alkyl of 1 to 6 carbon atoms or a pharmaceutically acceptable metal or amine cation; and PA0 n is one of the integers 1, 2 or 3;. or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof and pharmaceutical compositions containing those compounds are useful as antiallergy agents effective prophylactically to relieve the symptoms manifest in atopic immediate sensitivity in mammals.

Atopic immediate sensitivity is the chief manifestation found in animals suffering from bronchial asthma, seasonal pollinosis (e.g. hay fever), allergic rhinitis, urticaria, allergic conjunctivitis, food allergies and anaphylactoid reactions. The substances most frequently responsible for clinically manifest sensitivities are plant pollen, animal feathers and danders, dust milk and wheat, whether inhaled or ingested. Atopic hypersensitivity is found in man, dog and other animals. Its occurence is exceptionally found in the lower animals.
The presence of antibodies associated with atopic hypersensitivity reactions in the host serum is established by the passive sensitization of the skin of a normal recipient, after injection of serum from a sensitized host into a skin site followed by injection of antigen into the same area 24 hours later, resulting in a local hive. This is commonly referred to as the Prausnitz-Kustner (P-K) reaction.
The antibody associated with atopic hypersensitivity possesses distinctive features in that it does not in all forms precipitate with its antigen, fails to pass the placenta from mother to fetus, has special affinity for the skin, frequently lacks specificity toward an individual antigenic factor and is usually labile at about 56.degree. C. after 2 hours.
The homocytotropic antibody found in or induced in the rat is related in function and reaction to immunoglobulin E (reagin or IgE) found in the human. The correlation between homocytotropic antibody in the rat and IgE in the human has been established through the common effects obtained from chemical reactions, immunological reactions and drug responses in the two species hosting those antibodies. In the human, reagin is the antibody responsible for atopic immediate hypersensitivity reactions. In the rat, the homocytotropic antibody is responsible for atopic immediate hypersensitive reactions.
In theory, reagin, influences the cell membrane of a mast cell by reacting with an antigen, to initiate the reaction(s) within the mast cell which ultimately releases a mediator such as Bradykinin, SRS-A (slow reacting substance-A), histamine and other unknown substances. The mediator effects a change in surrounding cell wall permeability permitting a rapid change in flow or exudance of mediator(s) from the cells, resulting in an allergic attack sympton. The various methods commonly employed to relieve the symptoms of allergic attack, none of which are considered to be quite acceptable, are to (1) avoid attack by the antigen, (2) block the production of antibody with an immuno-suppressant, (3) block the action of the mediators on the cell under attack by administration of anti-histaminics, anti-5-hydroxy-tryptamines (5-HT) or anti-inflammatories, or (4) stimulate the cell under attack to negate the action of the mediator through the action of bronchodilators such as Isoprel.RTM. or a xanthine.

Benzyl-tetrahydro-2,4-dihydroxy-1,6-naphthyridine-3 carboxylic acid type antiallergy agents