An illuminated golf ball comprised of an outer translucent layer and cover, and a spherical inner core of translucent plastic, filled with chemiluminescent liquid, such as Cyalume.TM. The two components of the chemiluminescent liquid are held separate by a membrane or partition within the inner core. The chemiluminescent liquids are activated by being mixed with each other by the pulling of a cord, or the pulling or pushing of metal pin, or by impact from a golf club, which breaks or tears the membrane or partition. In a preferred form the golf ball will be made to comply with USGA guidelines. Thus, the golf ball will provide improved visibility in low light conditions and be of near equal weight distribution to provide performance and flight characteristics similar to standard, non-luminescent, golf balls.

As any golfer knows, it is typical for golf courses to remain open and for play to continue as long as there is sufficient daylight. Most courses also have special rates for twilight play, as it is understood that the golfer must try to finish a round as daylight is running out, and may not be able to finish at all as it can become too dark to play before the round can be finished. Under such conditions, a golf ball, which is slightly more than one and one half inches across, can be very difficult to see at a distance and the possibility of losing a ball in the course of play is greatly increased.
Prior art attempts to overcome this problem have included several variations, making use of different light sources, such as electric lighting elements, lightsticks, as well as attempts in which photostorage material is mixed into the ball's cover material.
In the case of prior art making use of electric lighting elements, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,995, complex electrical circuits and switches, as well as batteries and LEDs are enclosed within the ball's core, inside an outer translucent shell. Such electrical elements create the problem of uneven weight distribution, which can affect the flight properties of the ball, as well as affecting the compression characteristics when hit with a golf club. Another problem is the fragile nature of electrical circuits, batteries and lighting elements, which when hit by the severe impact of a golf club, can be rendered inoperable.
Other prior art, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,674, includes the use of separate, cylindrical lightsticks, which are activated, then inserted through a hole drilled through the core of a translucent golf ball. This example of prior art would seem to provide adequate light for its purpose. However, due to the cylindrical shape of the lightsticks, weight distribution is necessarily uneven, and performance of these golf balls is severely impaired, traveling slightly more than half the distance of a standard, non-luminescent, golf ball hit with the same club. Another problem presented by this prior art is that a separate lighting element is utilized, first activated, then inserted into the ball. Thus, the lighting element is not a self contained structural component of the ball itself, which diminishes distance and flight characteristics.
Another example of prior art makes use of photostorage materials, mixed into the cover, and outer layer materials, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,195. This prior art is able to create a ball which is of standard size and weight, with performance characteristics similar to standard golf balls. However, the energy required to power the photostorage material is not contained within the ball, requiring the use of a flashlight or similar device to first charge the photostorage material before use. Thus the light source utilized is not self powered.
Thus, there remains a need for a luminescent golf ball with a self-contained and self-powered lighting device to be made more visible in low light conditions, which complies with the United States Golf Association ("USGA") rules and regulations for golf ball size and weight, and having with general performance characteristics similar to standard, non-luminescent, golf balls.


A computing element, system, and method for implementing control structures for a compressed cache in hardware. Embodiments provide a first engine configured to allocate and deallocate virtual memory pages and physical memory pages from pools of available pages to store received data to the compressed cache, a second engine configured to compress received data and store the compressed data. Embodiments also provide for embedding data within the virtual and physical memory pages to indicate page size, type, and data compression.

The present invention relates to data storage adapters, and more specifically, to the hardware implementation of write caches in data storage adapters.
Storage adapters and storage subsystems often include a write cache to improve performance. The write cache may typically be implemented using a relatively fast non-volatile memory (e.g., using a Flash-backed DRAM). Write caches may be used to mitigate performance penalties on write operations, such as the intensive parity calculations required in certain configurations of redundant arrays of independent disks ("RAID"), such as RAID 5 and RAID 6. A write cache can also improve storage performance by consolidating multiple host operations placed in the write cache into a single destage operation, which may be processed more economically by the RAID layer and the disk devices.
The effective size of write caches has grown dramatically over time, due to both an increase in the size of memory chips as well as through the use of compression techniques to compress the data contents of the write cache. At the same time, faster storage devices such as Solid-State Drives (SSDs) have become increasingly popular, which increases the overall throughout required of the storage adapter, and correspondingly increases the computational demands to keep up with the attached drives.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


There is provided a multi-layered band pass filter capable of improving a stop characteristic out of a pass band and reducing the entire size of the filter. The multi-layered band pass filter includes a ceramic laminated body having at least first to fifth dielectric layers laminated sequentially therein; first and second resonators having symmetrical patterns of first and second inductors formed on the first dielectric layer, and symmetrical patterns of first and second capacitors formed on the second dielectric layer so that they are at least partially overlapped with the patterns of the first and second inductors; a pattern of first and second load capacitors electrically capacitively coupled respectively to ends of the first and second resonators formed on the third dielectric layer; a pattern of first and second notching capacitors electrically capacitively coupled respectively to the other ends of the first and second resonators formed on the third dielectric layer; and first and second ground planes formed respectively on the fourth and fifth dielectric layers, wherein each of the patterns of the first and second inductors is composed of a low impedance portion formed of wide-width lines and a high impedance portion formed of meander-type narrow-width lines from the low impedance portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-layered band pass filter, and more particularly, to a multi-layered band pass filter capable of improving a stop characteristic out of a pass band and reducing the entire size of communication systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a band pass filter, which is a radio frequency (RF) device that is composed of input/output terminals that play a role in the input/output of a frequency signal; and a combination of a plurality of electrode patterns and a plurality of resonators having frequency selectivity, functions to pass only a frequency signal within a pass band out of frequency signals used for mobile telecommunication systems.
There has been an increasing demand for techniques of densely installing parts inside a substrate due to the increased request of small and thin wireless communication equipment such as portable phones. For this purpose, there has been proposed a method of forming a certain pattern on a multi-layered substrate, the pattern adjusting the coupling to the resonators using transmission lines such as strip lines.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional multi-layered band pass filter. As shown in FIG. 1, a body of the multi-layered band pass filter is manufactured by laminating a plurality of dielectric layers 1-5 formed of ceramic dielectric materials. Here, a first ground plane 6 and a second ground plane 13 are formed respectively on a first dielectric layer 1 and a fifth dielectric layer 5; an electrode pattern 11 coupled in parallel to resonators to form a coupling capacitor CC and electrode patterns 12a and 12b formed between the resonators and a grounding conductor to form a load capacitor CL are printed as a thick film on the second dielectric layer 2; first and second strip line resonators 10a and 10b are printed as a thick film on the third dielectric layer 3; and electrode patterns 8a and 8b formed between the resonators and the input/output terminals to form an input/output coupling capacitor C01 and electrode patterns 9a and 9b formed between the resonators and a grounding conductor to form a load capacitor CL are printed on the fourth dielectric layer 4.
However, the resonators used in the conventional multi-layered band pass filter have a problem that the total volume of the filter is increased as their frequencies become low because the resonators are in the straight-line form having a constant width and their entire λ/4 length is used.
Also, since the input/output terminals have the same shape as the capacitor and are coupled to the resonators, an insertion loss of the filter is high in the multi-layered structure due to the change in process, for example the dimensional difference between an upper layer and a lower layer or the positional changes, which leads to the deteriorated performance of wireless telecommunication systems.


A pulse code modulation (PCM) unit is connected to a bus in a computer system. Also, connected to the bus is a processor and memory. The PCM unit is connected to transmit and receive telephone lines. The PCM unit reads uncompressed PCM data from the memory over the bus and compresses the PCM data for transmission over the telephone line in a cycle steal operation, wherein the bus is not being used by the processor. The PCM receives compressed PCM data from the receive telephone line, decompresses it, and writes the decompressed PCM data to the memory in a cycle steal operation. In addition, selectivity of either .mu.-Law or A-Law conversion, selectivity of even bit inversion for A-Law conversion, and selectivity between the compressed/decompressed PCM data or raw data is provided on a per channel basis. Selectable linear gain is also provided.

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is commonly used for communications. For example, much of the telephone data (voice, video) that is transmitted digitally is transmitted with the data in PCM format over T1 telephone lines.
PCM data is generated by sampling the amplitude of an analog signal and then digitally encoding the sample signal. When PCM data is transmitted over a telephone line, each data word is converted from 13 into 8 bits using nonlinear compression techniques. Two widely used conversion standards are .mu.-Law (for North America and Japan) and A-Law (for the rest of the world). A-Law and .mu.-Law conversion compress the data logarithmically, wherein low and normal volume levels of the signal are sampled with greater amplitude resolution than are high volume levels. Once the PCM data is generated and compressed, it can readily be sent over T1 telephone lines (or E1 TDM lines).
Computer systems are often connected to T1 telephone lines in order to communicate with other systems. For example, Digitized Analog Data can be sent in PCM form over T1 lines from one computer system to another computer system. The computer system processes the data in a decompressed or linear form. Thus, when PCM data is to be transmitted by one computer system, the data must be compressed to 8-bit words. When PCM data is received from a T1 line, it must be decompressed (for example, from 8 bits to 16 bits) in order to be usable by the receiving computer system.
Some applications, such as video conferencing, require real time data processing of the PCM data sent over telephone lines. One technique used to speed processing is to provide multiple processors in a computer system, wherein each processor can process a portion of the data. However, the compression or decompression process introduces some delay and processing overhead into prior art systems. As well as the need for dedicated look-up tables in memory.

Pulse code modulation compression mechanism

International Business Machines Corporation


A method and apparatus include an n-doped layer having a first applied charge, and a p−-doped layer having a second applied charge. The p−-doped layer may be positioned below the n-doped layer. A p+-doped buffer layer may have a third applied charge and be positioned below the p−-doped layer. The respective charges at each layer may be determined based on a dopant level and a physical dimension of the layer. In one example, the n-doped layer, the p−-doped layer, and the p+-doped buffer layer comprise a lateral semiconductor manufactured from silicon carbide (SiC).

The present invention relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, to power semiconductor device fabrication.
A power semiconductor device is commonly used as a switch or rectifier in power electronics, such as a switch-mode power supply. Discrete power semiconductors, or power integrated circuits (ICs), are found in systems delivering as little as a few tens of milliwatts (e.g., for a headphone amplifier) up to around a gigawatt (e.g., in a high voltage direct current transmission line).
The materials used to fabricate the semiconductor can dramatically affect its performance, configuration, and use in industry. For instance, gallium nitride (GaN) material enables fast switching, boasts good figure of merit (FOM) parameters, and is well suited for use in lateral semiconductors. A lateral semiconductor has electric contacts on only one side of substrate material. Despite its advantages, GaN semiconductors lack a PN junction. Device reliability can also be a problem with GaN semiconductors, as well as a related lack of avalanche breakdown voltage capability.
Silicon carbide (SiC) material can be more rugged and better suited for high power industry applications than GaN. However, SiC is conventionally used only in vertical power devices (e.g., with contacts on two sides of a substrate wafer). As a result, current travels vertically up through a substrate, incurring resistance and requiring large microchip dimensions. Additionally, device FOM is poor due to a larger parasitic capacitance.

Lateral semiconductor device and method of manufacture

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


The invention includes methods of inhibiting microbial growth in a well. A packing material containing a mixture of a first material and an antimicrobial agent is provided to at least partially fill a well bore. One or more access tubes are provided in an annular space around a casing within the well bore. The access tubes have a first terminal opening located at or above a ground surface and have a length that extends from the first terminal opening at least part of the depth of the well bore. The access tubes have a second terminal opening located within the well bore. An antimicrobial material is supplied into the well bore through the first terminal opening of the access tubes. The invention also includes well constructs.

The presence of microbial growth can cause bio-fouling and plugging of wells. Such plugging can occur both in vadose-zone wells and in saturated-zone wells. Vadose-zone wells are wells having a well bore that does not extend into the water table, and include, for example, vadose-zone monitoring wells, vapor extraction wells and injection wells. Saturated-zone wells have a well bore that extends into the water table such as, for example, ground water monitoring wells, production wells and irrigation wells. Plugging of a well may occur by plugging of structures within the well such as the filter pack, screening, piping, or pumps. Plugging may also occur by the plugging of the surrounding geological media. Such plugging is caused by an accumulation of microbial growth, by an accumulation of microbial extracellular material, or both.
Once a well has become bio-fouled or plugged, treatment of the well to eliminate microbial growth and remove plugging is often difficult and ineffective. Remedial chemical treatments, such as an introduction of a highly concentrated chlorine solution into the well, often fail due to the difficulty in forcing the solution through an already plugged well. Once bio-fouling has occurred, replacement of the effected structure is often required. Severe bio-fouling and plugging may require replacement of the entire well at great expense.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide well constructions and preventative treatment methods designed to minimize unwanted microbial growth in wells.


An apparatus and method for introducing a liquid substance into air flowing into an environment includes a main container for containing a reservoir of the liquid substance, and exhaust fan for withdrawing air from within said container to thereby create a negative air pressure condition therein, an air intake port having an upper open end exterior of the container and a lower open end within the container and in close adjacent relationship to a top surface of the reservoir of liquid, and a resupply container connected to the main container and including a pump to resupply liquid to the main container. Operation of the exhaust fan creates an air flow through the air intake port, causing the stream of air exiting the lower open end to impinge upon and agitate the top surface of the liquid, resulting in evaporation of the liquid into the air in the container. The mixture of droplets/vapor and air in the container are removed by the exhaust fan and introduced into a stream of air flowing into a selected environment.

In numerous situations, there is a desire, indeed, often a need, to treat gas, particularly air, located in a somewhat confined area in order to remove, mask, and/or eliminate offensive odors. One example might be at a pet shop located in a strip or group of shops; another example might be in a particular location or locations within a hospital environment.
In the past, in view of these examples and numerous other situations, there has developed a crowded art directed toward solution for this long outstanding problem. Proposed solutions have ranged from technical, expensive and complicated apparatus and systems to the simplest of devices, such as a finger operated spray nozzle to release some masking odors from a container in a home; more simply, a wick with one end in a container of deodorant and a free end exposed to the air in the interior space of an automobile have been employed.

Air conditioning odor control apparatus and method


A thermoelectric watch includes a thermoelectric generator; a voltage booster connected to the thermoelectric generator, and an energy management circuit connected to the voltage booster and configured to control the charging of at least one energy storage element. The energy management circuit includes an output configured to change from a first logic state to a second logic state when the thermoelectric generator starts generating electrical energy, and to change from the second logic state to the first logic state when the thermoelectric generator finishes generating electrical energy.

In the field of thermoelectric watches, those skilled in the art know that a thermoelectric generator can be used to provide electrical energy to a watch from body heat when the watch is on the wrist. As the thermoelectric generator produces a low voltage, a voltage booster can increase the voltage produced so as to obtain a sufficiently high voltage to power an energy management circuit. The energy management circuit makes it possible to charge at least one storage element such as a battery in order to power a motor of the thermoelectric watch even when the conditions for thermoelectric energy generation are no longer satisfied. The intensity of thermoelectric generation can be displayed by means of a circular bar graph at the edge of the thermoelectric watch dial. A user can thus see whether thermoelectric generation is active.
One drawback is that the bar graph uses an LCD display which is controlled by an output of the energy management circuit. The LCD display operates continuously and uses a few microwatts, at best, and up to several hundred microwatts. Given that the thermoelectric power generated by a device worn on the wrist can barely exceed several microwatts at rest, such an LCD device appears to be highly detrimental to the energy budget.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd


A method and apparatus for machining the surface of a spherical segment, the surface being either convex or concave, by a circular milling cutter mounted on a milling machine and rotatably driven about an axis of rotation. The segment is carried by a fixture journally mounted for pivoting about a pivot axis passing through the spherical center of the surface to be cut, and the axis of rotation also passes through the spherical center. The teeth of the cutter lie in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation which is the furthest such plane that intersects the face of the cutter so that only the cutting teeth will contact the spherical surface to be formed. The fixture is pivoted about the pivot axis and the segment moves through and is cut by the rotating teeth to form the spherical surface. If the pivot axis of the fixture is on the same side of the machine as the teeth of the cutter, a convex spherical surface is formed, but if the pivot axis of the fixture is on the opposite side of the machine from the teeth of the cutter, a concave spherical surface may be formed.

This invention relates to the manufacture of a body having a spherical surface and more particularly to a method and apparatus for milling the surface of a segment of a sphere.
A lapping machine for lapping the spherical surface of certain products such as seal rings, bearings, globe ball valves and other products having spherical surfaces is known in the prior art as being formed by a lap having a plurality of segments each having a spherical surface. These spherical surfaces may be either convex or concave. When the segments are assembled together they form the continuous surface for applying a lap or lapping compound to the surface of the product to obtain an extremely accurate and smooth finished surface. Lapping reduces the wear of parts by providing a very uniform bearing surface.
In the prior art, the common method of machining the spherical segments is by mounting a complete assembly or table of segments together on fixtures mounted on a vertical boring mill equipped with a tracer which causes a single point cutting tool to machine the surface on all the segments together. The fixtures are mounted on a table which rotates about an axis. The cutter moves about the axis of the assembled segments and then moves gradually in step-by-step fashion radially inwardly. This is a relatively slow process since only a small amount of material may be moved during each revolution and several passes are required to complete the process. Additionally, since the assembled lap table of segments may be relatively large, e.g., the spherical surface of the assembly may be in the order of approximately seven feet, the machine for mounting such assemblies is necessarily large and expensive. Accordingly, these factors together with the required assembly set-up time results in a relatively high machining cost per segment and thus the cost of the assembly is reflective thereof.

Method and apparatus for milling a segment of a spherical surface


Disclosed is a display apparatus, and method of making same, including a plurality of lower electrodes patterned on a substrate on the basis of each pixel, an auxiliary wiring composed of the same layer as the lower electrodes and arranged in the state of being insulated from the lower electrodes, an insulating film formed on the substrate and provided with pixel openings for exposing central portions of the lower electrodes and connection holes reaching the auxiliary wiring, organic layers so patterned as to cover bottom portions of the pixel openings and to have end portions partly overlapping on each other between the adjacent pixels, and an upper electrode so formed as to cover the organic layers and to be connected to the auxiliary wiring through the connection holes between the organic layers.

The present invention relates to a display apparatus including organic electroluminescence devices each of which comprises an organic light emission layer, and a method of manufacturing the same.
An organic electroluminescence device utilizing electroluminescence (hereinafter referred to as EL) of an organic material comprises an organic layer composed of a lamination of an organic hole transport layer and an organic light emission layer between a lower electrode and an upper electrode, and has drawn attention as a light emitting device capable of high-luminance light emission when driven by a low-voltage DC current.
An active matrix type display apparatus using such organic EL devices (namely, an organic EL display) comprises thin film transistors arranged at each pixel on a substrate. The organic EL devices are formed on an inter-layer insulating film provided so as to cover the thin film transistors. The organic EL device is comprised of a lower electrode patterned on the basis of each pixel in the state of being connected to the thin film transistor, an insulating film surrounding a central portion of the lower electrode while exposing the central portion as a pixel opening, an organic layer provided on the lower electrode in the pixel opening which is separated by the insulating film, and an upper electrode provided in the state of covering the organic layer. Of these components, the upper electrode is formed for example as a solid-printed-like film covering a plurality of pixels, and is used as an upper common electrode between the plurality of pixels.
In the active matrix type display apparatus, in order to secure the numerical aperture of the organic EL devices, it is effective to configure the display apparatus as the so-called top emission type structure in which light is taken out on the side opposite to the substrate. Therefore, the upper electrode is required to be thinned for securing a light-transmitting property, which tends to raise resistance value, thereby easily causing a voltage drop.
In view of this problem, there has been proposed a structure in which an auxiliary wiring formed of a highly conductive metallic material is formed on the insulating film between the pixel openings, and the upper electrode is connected to the auxiliary electrode, thereby preventing the voltage drop in the upper electrode. The auxiliary wiring may be formed as a part of a member constituting a rib on the insulating film covering the portion between the pixel openings, as shown for example in Patent Reference 1 given below. The rib is a portion on which a vapor deposition mask is mounted in the step of vapor depositing the organic layer after the formation of the insulating film (see Patent Reference 1). Also, there has been proposed a configuration in which the auxiliary wiring is composed of the same layer as that of the lower electrodes, and the organic layer is independently formed on each of the lower electrodes (see Patent Reference 2 given below).                Patent Reference 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-195008 (page 4 and FIG. 1)        Patent Reference 2: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-318556
In the display apparatus having the auxiliary wiring in the configuration shown in Patent Reference 1, however, a special layer for forming the auxiliary wiring is provided, leading to a complication of the layer structure in the display apparatus. Besides, a special step for forming the auxiliary wiring is needed, causing an increase in the number of steps for manufacturing the display apparatus.
The complication of the layer structure and the increase in the number of manufacturing steps cause increases in the product cost and manufacturing cost of the display apparatus, and cause a lowering in yield due to a trouble peculiar to the increased number of manufacturing steps.
In addition, in the configuration in which the auxiliary wiring is composed of the same layer as that of the lower electrodes as shown in Patent Reference 2, the organic layer is independently formed on the lower electrodes, and it is necessary to enlarge the spacing between the pixel openings so that the adjacent organic layers do not overlap on each other. This hinders enhancement of the degree of integration of pixels and enhancement of fineness of display performance.

Display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same


A modulated clock device is provided that includes an update device for updating a phase of the modulated clock device. In one example, the update device includes an update phase multiplexer coupled to an output phase multiplexer of an output clock generator and configured to receive an input clock signal and one or more phases of the input clock signal; an output phase fractional counter coupled to the update phase multiplexer and configured to receive an update clock signal and to generate an output phase; and an update phase device coupled to the output phase fractional counter and to the update phase multiplexer. The output phase fractional counter is further configured to send the output phase to the output phase multiplexer and to the update phase device. The update phase device is configured to generate an update phase and to send the update phase to the update phase multiplexer.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to integrated circuits, and, more specifically, to an approach for clock frequency modulation of a fixed frequency clock source.
Description of the Related Art
A clock signal of a computer is a particular type of signal that oscillates between a high state and a low state and is utilized like a metronome to coordinate actions of various circuits within the computer. A clock generator within the computer generates the clock signal. Although there are more complex arrangements, a common clock signal is in the form of a square wave with a 50% duty cycle (i.e., percent of time that a device spends in an active state as a fraction of the total time under consideration), usually with a fixed, constant frequency. Circuits using the clock signal for synchronization may become active at either the rising edge, falling edge, or, in the case of double data rate, both at the rising edge and at the falling edge of the clock cycle.
In operation, devices, such as processing units, within the computer may require slightly different clock frequencies than the other devices within the computer that also require clock signals. One approach to meeting the different clock signal demands is to provide a dedicated clock for each device (e.g., each processing unit or other device) that requires a clock. For example, an integrated circuit may be configured with a different phase-locked loop (PLL) for each device that requires a different clock frequency, even if the required frequencies for the devices are only slightly different. For example, if the required clock frequency for one processing unit is 100.0 MHz while the required clock frequency for another processing unit is slightly different at 100.5 MHz, those two processing units typically require separate PLLs. That way, each device can operate at the required frequency for that device. Unfortunately, having numerous dedicated clocks (e.g., PLLs) tends to occupy a relatively large amount of space on a semiconductor circuit. Thus, such an approach is typically undesirable.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is a more optimized approach to providing clock signals to the different devices within a computer.

Approach to clock frequency modulation of a fixed frequency clock source


An injection device medication delivery pen is provided for injecting fluids such as insulin within body tissue. The device includes a housing, a piston rod movably mounted within the housing, and a dose setting mechanism for controlling the movement of the piston rod with respect to a fluid containing cartridge removably positioned within the housing. The piston rod includes a plunger and a lead screw slidably positioned within the plunger. The plunger and lead screw are coupled by a pair of half nuts. The half nuts may be uncoupled from the lead screw in order to allow it to slide freely with respect to the plunger. A new cartridge may accordingly be installed quickly and easily as the lead screw is easily displaced by a new cartridge.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to medication delivery pens including dosage setting means.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
A number of devices have been developed for administering insulin, drugs or other substances to persons and animals. As self administration of certain substances, such as insulin, is common, it is important that devices designed for self-administration be simple to operate, reliable and accurate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,472 discloses an injection device which is capable of dispersing the contents of a pre filled cartridge by advancing the piston within the cartridge by a selected amount. A displacing sleeve is provided for axially displacing a gear element by a constant stroke. The sleeve is moved in the advancing direction against the force of a spring, and is moved back to a rest position by the spring. A threaded rod may be axially advanced with respect to the gear element in order to set the desired dosage. The rod engages the cartridge piston when the sleeve is advanced, thereby advancing the piston by a selected distance corresponding to the selected dosage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,591 discloses another injection device which, unlike that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,472, controls the dosage by allowing the stroke of a drive member to be varied. The distance traveled by the drive member corresponds to that traveled by the piston within an insulin cartridge. The dosage is displayed through a port in the body of the pen. The port is positioned adjacent to a scale including indicia corresponding to dosage units.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,318 discloses another injection device in which the dosage administered corresponds to the distance traveled by the actuating member. A coarse dosage indicator is centrally located on the device, and provides an indication of smaller dosage units.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,190 discloses an injection device including a circumferential measuring scale which provides an indication of the individual steps of a ratchet as adjustment means are turned. A longitudinal measuring scale is provided on a piston rod and indicates the dosage amount.


A telecommunications switch has a matrix architecture of n.times.m bus-interconnected, or space-switch interconnected, switch nodes together with additional switch nodes and n.times.m switch peripherals connected to the switch nodes externally of the bus (space-switch) interconnected switch node matrix. Fault protection redundancy is provided by providing each one of the peripherals with connections to two different switch nodes only one of which is enabled at any one time.

This invention relates to large capacity telecommunications switches constructed using a matrix (modular) architecture, and is particularly concerned with the provision of redundancy to provide a measure of protection against failure of the switch caused by failure of an individual component thereof.
Referring to FIG. 1, in one form of large capacity telecommunications switch, n smaller capacity switches, node switches, 10.1, 10.2 . . . 10.n, which are employed as buffers/time switches, on the periphery are connected to each other via an optical space switch core 11 which is functionally an n.times.n crosspoint. This core 11 may be implemented as a broadcast and select network arranged such that the incoming data streams from each of the n node switches 10 is first split n, ways, and then a selector mechanism (not shown) chooses which parts of the incoming data streams shall be onwardly directed to which node switch. The selector mechanism forms part of the core 11, and therefore, from the outside, the core appears as a crosspoint. The connections in the core 11 are re-arranged according to the traffic presented using a grant/request mechanism (not shown) under the control of core scheduler (not shown).
The arrangement of FIG. 1 can be re-drawn, as depicted in FIG. 2, to resemble a series of switches interconnected via a n-line bus 20. Each node switch 10.1, 10.2 . . . 10.n transmits on an associated line 20.1, 20.2 . . . 20.n of the bus, but can receive from any line. A selector 21.1, 21.2 . . . 21.n associated with each node switch determines which line is to be received by that node-switch at any given time. The switch of FIG. 2 is completely equivalent to that of FIG. 1, but suggests a different partitioning in which the selection of the required signal is performed at the node switch rather than in the core, which latter thus becomes a completely passive arrangement of optical waveguide splitters and connectors.
An n.times.m matrix arrangement of buffers and buses can be employed to make a large switch from an assembly of smaller units (nodes). The array may be square (n=m) or rectangular (n.noteq.m). In such an architecture, as depicted in FIG. 3, n.times.n nodes 30 are arranged in a square matrix. Each node 30 has an external input port 31, an external output port 32, and internal input and output ports connected to vertical and horizontal buses 33 and 34. A signal applied to the external input 31 port of any particular node 30 can be routed by the switch to the external output port of any other node by propagation along the buses 33 and 34 and through, in most instances, a sequence of three nodes. Thus a signal applied to the external input port of node A and destined for the external output port of node D can follow the route ABD or the route ACD. More complicated routes e.g. AEFD are also possible if, for instance, required because of failure of some component.
An individual node 30 of the switch of FIG. 3 may take the form illustrated in FIG. 4. This depicts the external input and output ports 31 and 32, and the vertical and horizontal buses 33 and 34 which convey data over lines 37a and 34a, and control signals over lines 33b and 34b, with request and grant control signals R, G to and from a traffic control 40. A buffer 41 process inputs from a multiplexer 42 and provides outputs to a demultiplexer 43. The multiplexer 42 has three inputs comprising the external input 31, an input from the vertical data bus 33a via a bus line selector 44, and an input from the horizontal data bus 34a via bus line selector 45. The demultiplexer similarly has three outputs comprising the external output 32 and inputs 46 and 47 respectively to the vertical and horizontal data buses 33a and 34a.
Reverting attention to FIG. 3, the input and output ports 31 and 32 of each of the n.times.n nodes will be connected to a peripheral (not shown) associated with that node. It is normal practice to provide dual fabrics for fault protection, which would imply that the n.times.n associated peripherals would be connected not only to the switch fabric of FIG. 3 in one plane, but also to a duplicate of that switch fabric in an adjacent plane. The peripherals would normally also be duplicated or for instance each of a set of line cards connected to the switch would be connected to two different peripherals. Now in these circumstances, if the switch were a 16.times.16 matrix, then there will be 256 nodes in one plane, and a further 256 nodes in the other plane. In the normal course of events the first plane matrix will be active while the second plane matrix remains redundant (inactive) until a fault occurs in the first plane matrix, and at this stage the second plane matrix is activated. It is most likely that no more than one node or one bus will fail at any one time, and so for the sake of a single node failure that leaves 255 still in working order, all these 255 nodes are disabled by the activation of the second plane matrix and the consequent closing down of the first plane matrix.


A hydraulic pump system is provided with a leakage fluid reclamation sub-system having connected eductor and fluid line elements that function to return hydraulic fluid leaked from around the system drive shaft to the reservoir of the hydraulic fluid pump.

It is generally known that in certain hydraulic pump installations, particularly when the pump drive shaft is oriented vertically and positioned to project above the pump housing, hydraulic fluid may be caused to leak from within the pump housing and at the pump mounting over periods of prolonged pump operation. In many cases the quantity of leaked hydraulic fluid is large and the external area of accumulated fluid leakage is substantial. Attempts to solve the problem by designing and providing totally leak-free pump shaft seals have not been entirely successful.
We have discovered that the shortcoming of known shaft seals in such hydraulic pump installations can be overcome by utilizing an approach wherein fluid leaked past an installed shaft seal is recovered and reused within the hydraulic pump system servo-control loop rather than being allowed to escape from within the pump housing in the zone of the pump mounting.
Also, other objects and advantages of the novel reclamation system of the present invention will become apparent from a careful consideration of the descriptions, drawings, and claims which follow.

Reclamation system for a hydraulic pump system


A photosensitive element is produced with a minimum amount of a conductive synthetic resin material. A draft for injection molding is formed in the inner circumferential surface as a supporting body, and a driven member provided with a gear is fixed to the end of the supporting body with a smaller inner diameter, that is, the thicker end. A driven portion in which a plurality of projections and depressions are formed alternately to be adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction is arranged on an axial end of a cylindrical supporting body made of a conductive synthetic resin, including a photosensitive layer on the outer circumferential surface. By a joint member removably engaged with the driven portion, the supporting body is rotated around the axis. In one arrangement, only the end of the supporting body is solid. In another arrangement, the supporting body is solid in the almost entire length in the axial direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a photosensitive element for electrophotography, provided for electrostatic latent image formation used in electrophotography apparatuses such as copying machines and laser printers, to a photosensitive device for electrophotography and to an electrophotography apparatus comprising the photosensitive element.
2. Description of the Related Art
A photosensitive element for electrophotography conventionally used in electrophotographic process in copying machines or laser printers comprises a conductive base tube having a photosensitive laser of an organic material formed thereon. The conductive base tube is prepared by processing an aluminum pipe by cutting in an appropriate length followed by abrading the surface thereof to be availed for the use as a photosensitive element for electrophotography.
The base tube of the conventional photosensitive element requires an expensive aluminum material, and a time-consuming processes such as cutting-off and abrading. Furthermore, since the photosensitive element is an expendable part, it requires a lot of labor in collection and classification for reuse of the metallic parts.
As a method for solving the problems, another related art disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 7-152194 (1995) has been proposed. In this related art, a drum served as a base tube is made of a synthetic resin. The cost of molded products depends on the amount of the resin. In particular, in the case of a resin drum to be used as a photosensitive element, an expensive resin is used. Accordingly, a thin drum is preferable with respect to the cost reduction. On the other hand, however, a thin drum is weak with respect to shock. Furthermore, a resin drum tends to weaken the adherence in the fitting portion of a drum base tube and a flange compared with the aluminum tube conventionally used.

Photosensitive element for electrophotography


A connector having a concave seat member for connecting a first building structural member to a second building structural member in conjunction with fasteners and an anchor member to resist forces on buildings imposed by earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and other similar cataclysmic forces. A connector constructed in accordance with the present invention consists of a concave seat member, formed with an opening for receiving an anchor member therethrough to attach the connector to a second building structural member such as a foundation, a first side member connected to the concave seat member, a second side member connected to the concave seat member, and a back member connected to the first and second side members. The back member attaches with fasteners to a first building structural member such as stud in a framed shear wall.

This invention relates to a connector for anchoring a first building structural member to a second building structural member. The connector works in conjunction with a separate anchor member that is received by or is attached to the second building structural member and fastener means for attaching the connector to the first building structural member.
Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods impose forces on a building that can cause structural failure. To counteract these forces, it has become common practice to strengthen or add ties between the structural members of a building in areas where such cataclysmic forces can occur. For example: framed walls can be attached to the foundation rather than merely rest on it; connections between the framed walls of each floor can be strengthened; and joists can be connected to both their headers and the wall that supports the header. One of the most common connectors designed for this application is called a holdown by the inventor. Holdowns are commonly used to anchor framed walls to the foundation.
Early holdowns were constructed from two or more separate pieces of metal welded together. These holdowns had to be painted to prevent rusting. They were heavy and costly to produce.
State of the art holdowns are made from galvanized sheet metal formed on progressive die machines that require no welding or painting. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,672, granted May 19, 1987, to Commins, Gilb and Littleton; U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,097 granted Mar. 3, 1992, to Young; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,404, granted Oct. 5, 1993, to Leek and Commins. These advancements have reduced the cost to make holdowns while increasing their ability to withstand tension forces. However, recent severe earthquakes in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Kobe, Japan, demonstrate that holdowns capable of being mass produced and installed inexpensively should be made even stronger for many connections.
All the holdown connectors of the prior art that work in conjunction with a separate anchor member work in a similar fashion. The anchor member attaches at the seat of the connector. This seat is connected to a back member. The back member attaches to the first building structural member, generally a stud in a framed wall. Most holdown connectors have one or more side members to increase the strength of the connector or to connect the seat member to the back member.
All prior art holdown connectors that attach to a separate anchor member share a common characteristic: they are formed with a planar or flat seat. Furthermore, the interfaces between the seat member and the back and side members are generally perpendicular.
When sufficiently strong tension forces are exerted on structural members attached by prior art holdown connectors the seat of the connector will deflect, and the back member, and side members, if present, will bend inwardly, that is towards the attachment point of the seat with the anchor member. The situation is somewhat analogous to having slack in a rope before it is pulled taunt. This deflection of the seat and back and side members effectively lengthens the holdown connector, loosening the connection between the joined structural members. The effectiveness of the holdown is lessened.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need in the art for an improved connector which can be inexpensively made, and easily installed which better withstands forces imposed by cataclysmic occurrences.


The present invention relates to a composition containing beta-glucan as an effective ingredient for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. The above captioned beta-glucan is preferably the beta-1.3/1.6 glucan having a lactic acid as a substituent and this beta-1.3/1.6 glucan is preferably produced from Aureobasidium pullulans SM2001(KCCM 10307).

A bone roles a physical supporter of body and also roles a storing place of an inorganic matter, particularly calcium and phosphorus.
A bone is consisted of an inorganic matter whose principle ingredient is phosphorus and calcium, an organic matter whose principle ingredient is type I collagen, and water. Amount of bone increase continuously, and then reach to the highest point about age of 20 years, and continuously decrease from after about age of 30 years. Particularly the Yeoman is faced abrupt lose of bone during 5-10 years after postmenopausal at about age of 50 years due to deficient of estrogen. The strength of bone is originated in a density of bone, and it gives an effect to microstructure, size and geometry of bone. A bone is an organ that has an outer layer consisted with a connective tissue deposited a mineral and an inside having a bone marrow being in a bone marrow cavity. Also, a bone marrow has hematopoiesis, and a heniatopoietic stem cell of bone marrow is differentiated to an osteoclast cell absorbing a bone and stromal cell of bone marrow is differentiated to an osteoblast cell building up a bone (Manolagas S C, Jilka R L: Bone marrow, cytokines, and bone remodeling. N. Engl. J. Med. 332 (5):305-11, 1995).
An osteoporosis is a basic disease of skeletal system related to a bone such as myeloma, bone arthritis, hypercalcemia and so fortrh, and increases sensitivity for fracture and decrease strength of bone. At bone, a formation of bone by osteoblast cell and a destruction of bone by osteoclast cell is always coincided, and reconstruction process is consistently happened to normal function of bone. However, if a balance of reconstruction process between absorbance of bone and formation of bone incline to absorbance of bone, absorbance of bone by osteoclast cell is increased, and decrease of bone amount and weakening of bone strength is happened to be induced osteoporosis being increased danger of fracture in conclusion. The pharmaceutical preparation for treating osteoporosis being used currently may be classified an inhibiting agent of bone absorbance and an accelerating agent of bone formation.
An inhibiting agent of bone absorbance is female honnone, bisphosphonate, selective follicle hormone receptor substance, calcitonine, and so on, an accelerating of bone formation is a pharmaceutical preparation for parathyroid gland hormone, active vitamin D and the like. However, the absorbent ratio of bisphosphonate as a strong inhibiting agent of bone absorbance is low and it has side effect for gastroenteric gland, an agent for follicle hormone also has a possibility being capable of inducing a breast cancer and uterine cancer when dosing for long time. Therefore, there has being a research to improve a drawback of a pharmaceutical preparation being used currently (David Goltzrnan. Discoveries, Drugs and Skeletal Disorders, nature review 1, 784-796 (October 2002)).
For an action of bone remodeling, while OPG (osteoprotegerin), RANTKL (receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand), RANK (receptor activator of nuclear factor κB) protein which is essential for activating and divergence of bone sub-cell and osteoclast cell and substance is identified at about 2000 year, and its role is found, hormones such as follicle hormone and parathyroid gland hormone, cytokines such as inteleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and growth factor such as inmmune growth factor (IGF) which effect to bone metabolism is examined and a research for these protein is being progressed. Except for the above, a research is being progressed for protein effecting to adhesion and activation for bone of osteoclast cell, acting progress for transferring signal, and translating factor (AP1, c-src), and various growth factor (TGF-β, PDGF, FGF), lipid regulating factors (for example, PPAR) and the like (J H Tobias, A M Flanagan, A M Scutt: Novel therapeutic targets in osteoporosis. Expert Opin. Ther. Targets 6(1):41-56, 2002).
On the other hand, it is only an agent for parathyroid gland hormone that approved from FDA, USA as a pharmaceutical preparation for treating osteoporosis, an accelerating agent of bone formation but not an inhibiting agent of bone absorbance. Most inhibiting agent of bone absorbance applied to treat osteoporosis show its function by reducing a bone turnover rate, therefore in case that a lose of bone had already been high progressed or in case of the patient having a high bone turnover rate or when considering prevention of fracture with long term, the necessity for an accelerating agent of bone formation is gradually increased. Therefore, a research is being progressed for targeting a osteoblast cell undertaking a formation of bone other than conventional fluorine compound and parathyroid gland hormone (S. K, Yeem, Bone Formation-Stimulating Agent As Agent Treating Osteoporosis, Korean Endocrine Association, Vol. 14-2, 1999).
It is recently found that autoimmune arthritis and osteoporosis is closely related to unbalance of various cytokines playing an important role for immunoactivity control of human body. For example, OPG, RANK, RANKL controlling a divergence and activation of osteoclast cell is essential factor for controlling a divergence and production of immunocell, and RNAKL induce production of osteoclast cell and destruction of bone by activated T cell. Such as the above description, it is proved that a metabolism of immuno-system and bone functionally related to each other, it is focused to development of pharmaceutical preparation for treating and preventing osteoporosis through normalization of immuno-controlling function. (Y. A, Kong; Osteoprotegerin ligand: Controlling factor for immune reaction and bone, Biowave vol. 4 No. 5, 2002). Particularly, it is also necessary demanded for development of novel material being capable of replacing a conventional hormone agent and organic compound obtained by chemical synthesis having toxicity and side effect such as estrogen. Therefore, since these novel materials can be found from a natural object, it is actively progressed a trial to invent a new drug from a natural object.
The present inventers recognize the above conventional problem, and search a natural object that remarkably reduce an activity of osteoclast cell and concurrently activate osteoblast cell facilitating production of bone. As the result, the present inventers notice possibility that utilize beta-glucan known as having immunity increase and anticancer effect for treating osteoporosis.

Composition containing beta-glucan for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis


A method of determining lattice point data of a look-up table for transforming input color coordinates into colorant coordinates of a color image output device, or of reconstructing the same by using a differentiable-continuous function. An input-output characteristic of the device is determined by using a differentiable-continuous function based on discrete transformation pairs, and coefficients of color transformation that uses a look-up table or a continuous function is determined based on the thus-determined differentiable-continuous function.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color transforming apparatus used in color image processors such as color copiers and color printers and, in particular, to a method and an apparatus for determining coefficients of color transformation which are used in the above color transforming apparatus. More particularly, the invention concerns a method and an apparatus for determining lattice point data of a look-up table used for color transformation or coefficients of differentiable-continuous function type color transformation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a color copier, for instance, a color original is read by a color-image input device, the light from the color original is separated into three color components of red, green, and blue, thereby obtaining RGB signals. These RGB signals are transformed into L*a*b* signals. The L*a*b* signals are transformed into YMCK signals corresponding to yellow, magenta, cyan, and black colorants, so as to form a color image on recording paper by a color-image output device.
In the transformation from the L*a*b* signals into YMCK signals, a matrix operation in which a product-sum operation of input signals and color transformation coefficients is performed, or a look-up table is generally used.
The look-up table is a table in which relationships between input values and output values each obtained by multiplying the input values by predetermined color transformation coefficients are stored in advance in a read-only memory (ROM) or a random-access memory (RAM), to effect transformation directly from the L*a*b* signals into YMCK signals. In a case where color transformation is effected by using this look-up table, since an operation time is virtually not required, there is an advantage in that the color transformation can be effected at a very high speed.
The color transformation coefficients for the look-up table are frequently obtained experimentally by trial and error such that the gradation and tone of a color original will be reproduced faithfully when the color original is read by a color-image input device and a reproduced image is actually outputted on recording paper.
Namely, conventionally, there have been cases where estimated values based on a printing or optical model are set as lattice point data of the look-up table on the basis of actually measured values. Incidentally, the lattice point is a point designated by predetermined L*, a*, and b* indicated by an index of the look-up table, and the lattice point data is a post-transformation value corresponding to the lattice point, i.e., the predetermined L*, a*, and b*.
Also, there have been cases where estimated values are obtained by polynomials or other mathematical models.
With respect to output devices, studies in which errors are reduced by modeling input-output characteristics by neural networks are known (e.g., refer to Motohiko Naka, Mie Saito, and Kunio Yoshida: "Color Correction of Color Hard Copy Through Neural Network," Transactions of Study Group of The Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan, 1989). However, no consideration has been given to the use of a neural network in determining the lattice point data of the look-up table.
Generally, in the field of production printing, as shown in FIG. 1B, a plurality of color-image input devices (a drum scanner 1-1, a photo CD 1-2, and a flatbed scanner 1-3) and a plurality of color-image output devices (an image setter 3-1, a color-proofing printer 3-2, and a low-resolution desktop printer 3-3) are generally connected to a host computer 2, and devices are selectively used depending on applications. Since the respective color input-output devices input or output color by means of color signals peculiar to the devices, even if colors are equal, corresponding color signals of the respective devices are not necessarily equal. In such a situation, color matching between an original and an output and color matching between the printed matter for color proofing and the final printed matter are difficult. Accordingly, to overcome this problem, color management systems (CMSs) typified by ColorSync 1.0 by Apple Computer, Inc. and EfiColor by EFI Electronics have come to be used. In these CMSs, attempts have been made to achieve color matching between different devices on the basis of groups of information on device characteristics describing the characteristics of various input-output devices prepared in advance.
However, since the aforementioned CMSs had problems in accuracy and the interchangeability of the groups of information on device characteristics, a method of describing the information on device characteristics has been proposed by Intercolor Consortium (ICC), and has come to be used extensively. According to the ICC's method of describing the information on device characteristics, it is possible to obtain the interchangeability of the groups of information on device characteristics, which has been a drawback of the conventional CMSs.
Since the ICC's method of describing the information on device characteristics is based on a large-scale look-up table and linear interpolations, it is possible to obtain high accuracy as compared with the conventional CMSs.
However, with the above-described models using printing, optics, polynomials, or the like, not only is the estimation error large, but a failure sometimes occurs in color reproduction. In addition, with respect to output devices, in the case of those using neural networks, an input to an output device is estimated from color coordinates such that the error in color signals from the output device is minimized, and the error in a uniform color space of the output result is not minimized. Since the visual perception of humans corresponds to a uniform color space, even if the error in color signals from the output device is merely minimized, the error in visual perception cannot be made sufficiently small.
In addition, in a case where color transformation coefficients are determined by using neural networks, although the accuracy is high, there is a problem in that a very long time and hardware are required for calculation.
Under the present circumstances, since a very large-scale look-up table cannot be easily mounted, mounting is effected in the form of software, or a small-scale look-up table is used. However, the mounting in the form of software presents a problem in the speed of color transformation, and the small-scale look-up table presents a problem in that the accuracy declines.
An ICC profile stores both a table for transforming device-dependent color signals into device-independent signals and a table for transforming device-independent signals into device-dependent signals, but only a table in the forward direction is actually used between them. If a table in the reverse direction is also used jointly at the time of interpolation, it is possible to reduce the interpolation error, but it is difficult to do so in the case of a look-up table in terms of its basic principle. In addition, although high accuracy can be obtained with respect to an independent color transformation, if a plurality of color transformations are synthesized, an interpolating operation becomes necessary. If the color transformation is repeated, there is a problem in that the interpolation errors are accumulated.

Method and apparatus for determining color transformation coefficients


A battery control apparatus of this invention comprises charge detecting circuit for detecting change of charge of a battery based on current of the battery, first residual charge amount detecting circuit coupled to the charge detecting circuit for detecting a first residual charge amount of the battery by compensating a predetermined reference residual charge amount based on the detected result of the change of charge of the battery. The battery control apparatus further comprises second residual charge amount detecting circuit for detecting a second residual charge amount of the battery based on al terminal voltage of the battery and reference residual charge amount updating circuit for updating the reference residual charge amount by detected result of the second residual charge amount of the battery, wherein the second residual charge amount of the battery is detected at a predetermined timing where the current of the battery is zero or almost zero.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a battery control apparatus and management method of a battery, and particularly to such apparatus or method having function to check residual amount of battery power. For example, this invention is applicable to an electric bicycle, a personal computer, a portable telephone or the like, and the residual amount of battery power is detected based on both integrating current and terminal voltage of the battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many apparatus powered by a battery usually have a function to detect a residual amount of battery power left in the battery. Detection of the residual amount of battery power improves convenience of the battery-powered apparatus. As well known, a current integration method or a terminal voltage method is used for detection of the residual amount of battery power.
In the current integration :method, a full charge capacity or a residual capacity after the end of discharge is revised by a charge and discharge power of the battery obtained by integrating charge and discharge current. In this current integration method, detection precision of the residual amount of battery power is deteriorated, because detection error of charge and discharge current is accumulated by repetition of charging and discharging operation. Accordingly in order to improve detection precision, not only detection precision of a charge and discharge current is raised but also at a full charge or the end of discharge, the residual amount of detected battery power is reset by such as full charge capacities.
However, in the detection of the charge and discharge current, there is a problem that discharge current changes according to an operating condition of the connected various devices. Namely 1 [mA] degree of error may occur for a charge and discharge current of 10 [A] even if a charge and discharge current is measured by enough measurement precision.
In the current integration method, the residual amount of battery power detected by full charge capacities is reset at full charge or at the end of discharge, detection error of such charge and discharge current can be canceled. However, error is accumulated by the residual amount of detected battery power, and detection precision falls. if charging and discharging is repeated within a range that the battery does not reach to the end of discharge or a full charge. Even if a detection result that the power of the battery is still left is obtained in the current integration method, there is the case that the detected power actually can not be used for driving an apparatus. In this case where the current integration method is applied for detecting the residual amount of battery power, the battery suddenly goes down.
On the contrary, the voltage method detects the residual amount of battery power based on the relation between terminal voltage of the battery and the residual amount of battery lower (accumulated electricity amount). In other words when the battery discharges electricity with constant discharge current, the terminal voltage gradually goes down by about constant property as shown in FIG. 6. Accordingly the residual amount of battery power can be detected by measuring the terminal voltage of the battery.
Property of the relation between the terminal voltage and the residual amount of battery power ""shows the residual electricity amount based on the full charge power. The characteristics of relation between residual amount and terminal voltage of the battery shows charging capacity of residual amount based on the full charging power. Thereby if the ratio (accumulated electricity amount%) of the residual amount relative to full charging power is used, one characteristic curve can be applied to various kinds of batteries in spite of volume of full charging capacity. In case of this method, the operation processing using a full charge capacity value is necessary for detection of the residual amount of battery power.
In case of this method, accumulation of error does not occurs like as a case by the current integration, method. Furthermore, error becomes small as it becomes near the end of discharge in case of this voltage method. Accordingly sudden battery shortage as a case by the current integration method can be reduced.
By the way, the terminal voltage of the battery varies with internal resistance according to the charge:, and discharge current. Accordingly in the case of the voltage method, it is necessary to revise detected terminal voltage according to the charge and discharge current in order to apply to this characteristic curve. If the temperature is high, the internal resistance becomes low and if the temperature is low, the internal resistance becomes high. Namely, the internal resistance varies with temperature within a range of several times. Accordingly, in case of this voltage method, error in the detected residual amount of battery power becomes large only if charge and discharge current is large. In addition, if temperature is low, the error in the detected residual amount of battery power becomes large. Accordingly, in the voltage method, there is the problem that precision is not so good.
As a method of one solving this problem, the property between the terminal voltage and the residual amount of battery power is recorded at various charge and discharge current, and the residual amount of battery power is detected corresponding charge and discharge current. In case of this method, there is the problem that a construction becomes complicated in order to record various kinds of curves.
In addition, the terminal voltage of the battery does not follow with a sudden change of charge and discharge current, and it takes several minutes to several ten minutes until the terminal voltage is finally settled down to the terminal voltage corresponding to the charge and discharge .current. In other words when the supply of power is stopped, for example, and discharge current becomes 0 [A], relatively long time is necessary for the terminal voltage to be a value of no-load status corresponding to 0 [A] of discharge current.
Therefore, when the residual amount of battery power is detected with voltage method, there is a problem to fall detection precision of residual amount of battery power when residual amount of battery power is detected by such transient time of the terminal voltage.
A change of such terminal voltage of the battery is based on polarization reaction or something like that occurred in inside of the battery. The time interval for the terminal voltage to be constant upon changing charge and discharge cur rent varies depending on charging and discharging current up to that time and also depending on temperature.
FIG. 7 is a characteristic curve showing change of the terminal voltage. The change of the terminal voltage after stopping the power supply with the same discharge current at the time point t1 is shown. As shown by a curve A, it takes long time for the terminal voltage to be constant when the power is supplied for long hours. On the other hand when a power is supplied to the battery for short hours, it takes short time for the terminal voltage to be constant as shown by a curve C in FIG. 7. A change of terminal voltage shown by a curve B is the case where a power is supplied to the battery for an intermediate time.
In order to overcome above defects, a residual charge amount detected by the current integration method is compensated by a residual charge amount detected by the voltage method according to the present invention.
Namely, in accordance with the present invention, a battery control apparatus comprises charge detecting means for detecting change of charge of a battery based on current of the battery, first residual charge amount detecting means coupled to the charge detecting means for detecting a first residual charge amount of the battery by compensating a predetermined reference residual charge amount based on the detected result of the change of charge of the battery, second residual charge amount detecting means for detecting a second residual charge amount of the battery based on a terminal voltage of the battery, and reference residual charge amount updating means for updating the reference residual charge amount by detected result of the second residual charge amount of the battery, wherein the second residual charge amount of the battery is detected at a predetermined timing where the current of the battery is zero or almost zero.
In the battery control apparatus of the present invention, the battery control apparatus is connected to an external device as to form a path for the current between the external device, and the reference residual charge amount updating means generates the predetermined timing by designating the interruption of the current of the battery to the external device.
In the battery control apparatus of this invention, wherein the battery control apparatus includes the battery, and the battery control apparatus is powered by the battery.
Further in the battery control apparatus of this invention, wherein the battery is detachably mounted on the battery control apparatus, and the battery control apparatus is powered by the battery.
In the battery control apparatus of this invention, wherein the current of the battery is charging current of the battery or discharging current of the battery.
This invention further relates to a management method for a battery, comprising the steps of detecting an intermediate residual charge amount of a battery based on a terminal voltage of the battery during the time when current of the battery is almost zero, and detecting a final residual charge amount of the battery based on current of the battery by setting the intermediate residual amount of the battery as a reference.
Further in a management method for a battery of this invention, wherein a predetermined time is set to a time interval where the time that current of the battery is almost zero elapses, and the predetermined time is an interval where changes of the terminal voltage of the battery become stable.

Battery control apparatus and management method of battery