A hysteresis current controller includes a hysteresis current control device which has an adjustable hysteresis band. A feedback signal indicative of current in the load is compared with a current demand signal to produce an error signal which is received by the hysteresis control device. The switching output of the hysteresis control device is monitored to derive a signal indicative of its frequency which is used in a control loop to vary the hysteresis band to maintain the switching frequency output substantially constant.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hysteresis current controllers for reluctance machines.
2. Description of Related Art
The switched reluctance machine is an example of an electrical load having a variable inductance. It comprises a stator, defining stator poles, and a rotor, defining rotor poles. Energizing windings are wound in relation to the stator poles. Typically, groups of the windings are energized simultaneously as a phase. Energization of the windings of the or each phase is controlled by switching a source of electrical power in a phase circuit including the phase windings. The reluctance machine can be operated as either a motor or a generator. A description of switched reluctance machines and their control can be found in the article `The Characteristics, Design and Applications of Switched Reluctance Motors and Drives` by Stephenson and Blake, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and presented at the PCIM '93 Conference and Exhibition at Nurnberg, Germany, Jun. 21-24, 1993.
At low speed, the torque developed by the switched reluctance motor is usually controlled by adjusting the amount of current in the phase windings, i.e. the motor is said to be "current fed". Usually, a voltage source is the most practicable means of deriving electrical power and so a current controller is required. The current controller controls the states of power switches to apply a voltage across the phase winding so as to establish the required current in the phase winding. The performance of the current controller, in both transient and steady-state sense, will be affected by the nature of the electrical load which the phase circuit presents. Unlike d.c. and induction motors, the winding of the switched reluctance machine has neither a constant inductance nor exhibits a simple `motional EMF` effect. A mathematical expression for the electrical behavior of the switched reluctance phase circuit can be described as: EQU v=iR+1(i,.theta.)di/dt+i.omega..differential.L/.differential..theta.(i,.the ta.) (1)
where:
v is the phase voltage PA1 R is the phase resistance PA1 i is the phase current PA1 L is the phase inductance PA1 1 is the incremental phase inductance PA1 .omega. is the rotational speed PA1 .theta. is the rotor angle relative to the stator PA1 the first term (iR) is that due to the resistive voltage drop in the phase winding; PA1 the second term (1(i,.theta.) di/dt) is proportional to the rate of change of phase current and is due to the effective inductance of the phase, i.e. the incremental inductance. This term can be seen to be nonlinear in nature as the incremental inductance is a function of both current and angle. A plot showing the variation in the incremental inductance of a sample switched reluctance machine is shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings which is a graph of incremental inductance against rotor angle for various values of phase current. This shows that incremental inductance can vary by over 10 to 1 for a machine operated over a wide range of currents, for example a servo-drive; PA1 the last term of equation (1) (i.omega..differential.L (i,.theta.)/.differential..theta.) can be seen to be proportional to the rotational speed (.omega.) and is therefore sometimes called the "motional EMF". It arises because the phase inductance is a function of rotor angle and therefore varies with time as the machine rotates. It is also nonlinear in nature and depends on how the phase inductance varies with rotor angle at a particular phase current and rotor angle. By way of illustration, FIG. 2 shows the motional EMF for a switched reluctance machine for a given speed and various values of phase current. PA1 f is the switching frequency PA1 V is the DC link voltage PA1 i.sub.av is the average phase current PA1 R is the phase resistance PA1 .epsilon.is the `motional EMF` PA1 l is the incremental inductance PA1 i.sub.h is the width of the hysteresis band
The three different terms in equation (1) may be explained as follows:
One form of current control which is often used with switched reluctance machines is hysteresis current control. It is widely used due to the high bandwidth control attainable and the simplicity of its implementation. Forms of hysteresis current control are described in EP-A-0635931, for example, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Hysteresis current control works by changing the conductive state of power switches in the current controller whenever the current reaches a threshold level above or below the demanded current. The gap between the upper and lower thresholds is known as the hysteresis band. A simple hysteresis current control function is shown in the graph of FIG. 3 where the voltage applied is of a constant magnitude, but opposite polarity, for the on and off states of the power switches and the current is assumed to rise and fall in a linear manner. In practice, this is not the case but serves to illustrate generally the hysteresis chopping waveform in which the current is free to vary within the limits of the upper and lower thresholds and is controlled by switching if it exceeds either threshold.
Simplified expressions for the on and off times (shown in FIG. 3 as t.sub.on and t.sub.off) may be used to derive the following equation: EQU f=(V.sup.2 -i.sup.2.sub.av -R.sup.2 -2i.sub.av R.epsilon.-.epsilon..sup.2)/2li.sub.h V (2)
where:
Equation (2) assumes that the instantaneous phase current will rise and fall in a linear manner as stated above. While this is not completely accurate, provided the switching period is short compared with the time constant of the inductive load (which is usually the case for a switched reluctance machine) the error due to this approximation to linearity is acceptably small.
It can be seen from equation (2) that the switching frequency will vary according to the particular phase circuit parameters unless the width of the hysteresis band is adjusted accordingly. In practice, this is not done as it would require the storage of significant amounts of data based on the electromagnetic characteristics of the machine. It would also require the sensing of rotor position and speed, in addition to current, and very rapid data processing to determine the correct width of the hysteresis band. Thus, when conventional hysteresis current control is used, the power switching frequency varies and undesirable acoustic noise often results.
In the simplest form of hysteresis current control, a fixed hysteresis band is used, centered around the demanded current. It is set to ensure that the power switching frequency is such that the maximum acceptable switching losses are not exceeded under any operating conditions of the drive. For example, in a positioning servo-drive based on a switched reluctance machine which is required to operate into overload, this will necessitate having a comparatively wide hysteresis band to cope with the very low incremental inductance encountered at high currents. This in turn can cause significant steady-state error at low average currents, because the positive and negative excursions about the demand current become unequal as soon as the lower bound of the hysteresis band reaches zero current.

Hysteresis current controller for a reluctance machine


One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates moving an original method from a source class to a destination class and for constructing a corresponding forwarding method in the source class that preserves null semantics. During operation, the system translates the original method from the source class into a corresponding moved method, and then incorporates the moved method into the destination class. The system also constructs a forwarding method that invokes the moved method in the destination class. The system then replaces the original method in the source class with the forwarding method. In this way, invoking the forwarding method in the source class causes the moved method to be invoked in the destination class. While constructing the forwarding method, the system generates code that checks whether a “source parameter” of the original method whose class matches the destination class is null. If so, the generated code executes the body of the original method. Otherwise, the generated code invokes the moved method in the destination class. The system also optimizes the generated code to produce optimized code for the forwarding method, whereby portions of the original method can possibly be optimized away.

The present invention relates to tools for automating the development of applications for computer systems.
During application development, it is quite common for a programmer to move a method from one class to another class. This is typically accomplished by manually moving the method from the source class to the destination class, and then fixing up references within the moved method to be compatible with the destination class. For example, the source instance (referred to as "this") for the source class can become a parameter in the moved method, and the "source parameter" whose class matches the destination class becomes the destination instance ("this") in the moved method.
When the method is moved, it is customary to replace the original method in the source class with a forwarding method, so that invoking the forwarding method in the source class causes the moved method to be invoked in the destination class. In this way, references to the original method in the source class are automatically forwarded to the moved method in the destination class.
However, using a forwarding method can be tricky because of a simple problem: the source parameter (which becomes "this" in the destination class) may be null. If the forwarder is constructed by simply converting the source parameter into the destination instance as described above, a problem may arise because the destination instance ("this") in the destination class can never be null. Hence, if the source parameter is null, and the original method in the source class performs some action based on the null value of the source parameter, the moved method in the destination class may not perform the same action.

Method and apparatus for preserving null semantics during use of a forwarding method


A programmable logic device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, may comprise a bus and a plurality of programmable masters configurable to interface the bus. A first portion of a memory may include configuration data operable to configure masters of the plurality, while a second portion of the memory may include access patterns to control when the different masters of the plurality may access the bus. An injection rate controller may control when a given master is to send data on the bus based on the access pattern associated with the master. A master controller may be operable to write the access patterns for the masters to the second portion of the configuration memory.

This invention relates to programmable logic devices, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and more specifically, to interface blocks of a programmable logic device to a bus or network and methods of controlling their access to the bus.
Programmable logic devices (PLDs) are a type of integrated circuit that can be programmed to perform specified logic functions. One type of PLD, the field programmable gate array (FPGA), typically includes an array of programmable resources, which may include, for example, input/output blocks (IOBs), configurable logic blocks (CLBs), dedicated random access memory blocks (BRAM), multipliers, digital signal processing blocks (DSPs), processors, clock managers, delay lock loops (DLLs), transceivers, and so forth.
Each programmable resource typically includes both programmable interconnect and programmable logic. The programmable interconnect typically includes a large number of interconnect lines of varying lengths interconnected by programmable interconnect points (PIPs). The programmable logic may implement the logic of a user design using programmable elements that can include, for example, function generators, registers, arithmetic logic, and so forth.
The programmable interconnect and programmable logic are typically programmed by loading a stream of configuration data into internal configuration memory that define how the programmable elements are configured. The configuration data can be read from memory (e.g., from an external PROM) or written into the FPGA by an external device. The collective states of the individual memory cells of the configuration memory then determine the function of the FPGA.
Another type of PLD is the Complex Programmable Logic Device, or CPLD. A CPLD includes two or more "function blocks" connected together and to input/output (I/O) resources by an interconnect switch matrix. Each function block of the CPLD includes a two-level AND/OR structure similar to those used in Programmable Logic Arrays (PLAs) and Programmable Array Logic (PAL) devices. In some CPLDs, configuration data is stored on-chip in non-volatile memory. In other CPLDs, configuration data is stored on-chip in non-volatile memory, then downloaded to volatile memory as part of an initial configuration sequence.
For all of these programmable logic devices, the functionality of the device may be understood to be controlled by data bits provided to the device for that purpose. The data bits can be stored in volatile memory (e.g., static memory cells, as in FPGAs and some CPLDs), in non-volatile memory (e.g., FLASH memory, as in some CPLDs), or in any other type of memory cell.
Other PLDs may be programmed by applying a processing layer, such as a metal layer, that programmably interconnects the various elements on the device. These PLDs may be known as mask programmable devices. PLDs can also be implemented in other ways, e.g., using fuse or antifuse technology. The terms "PLD" and "programmable logic device" may thus include but are not necessarily limited to these exemplary devices, as well as encompassing devices that may be only partially programmable.
As the density and complexity of PLDs has increased, so too has the need for greater capacity and more efficient communication circuits such as those associated with interfacing buses and/or network-on-chip. In the case of networking solutions, the increase in the number of peers or bus masters that may be associated with a bus may call for finer and/or more granular control of their access to the bus.
For circuits of a PLD directed to a bus or network-on-chip therefore, it may be desirable for at least some of the programmable resources of the PLD to be dedicated to controlling when a bus master of a plurality may inject data onto a given bus or network.

Soft injection rate control for buses or network-on-chip with TDMA capability


A controller for controlling a fuel injection valve and a fuel pressure adjustment mechanism integrates a deposition amount of deposits per unit time, and estimates a deposition amount of deposits on an injection hole of the fuel injection valve. The controller causes the fuel pressure adjustment mechanism to increase a fuel pressure, when the estimated deposition amount exceeds a predetermined value, and corrects the unit deposition amount acquired by the deposition amount estimation according to the set fuel injection timing of the fuel injection valve. The controller corrects such that as compared with the unit deposition amount when the fuel injection timing is set to a first timing away from a top dead center of the piston by a first period, the unit deposition amount decreases when the fuel injection timing is set to a second timing away by a second period longer than the first period.

In a direct-injection engine, a fuel injection valve is disposed in such a way that an injection hole is exposed in a ceiling surface of a combustion chamber, for example. In this case, deposits (carbon) may adhere to the injection hole, and fuel injection performance of the injection hole may be lowered. One of the factors of generation of the deposits is that injected fuel adheres to the vicinity of the injection hole, and the fuel is solidified by combustion within the combustion chamber.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2018-62923 discloses a technique of performing cleaning control in which a fuel pressure of a fuel injection valve is increased in order to remove deposits adhered to the vicinity of an injection hole. In order to timely perform the cleaning control, it is desired to accurately determine a deposition amount of deposits. The above publication discloses a method of predicting a deposition amount of deposits, based on an integration time of a low speed operation.
However, it is revealed that it is not possible to accurately acquire a deposition amount of deposits, based on an integration time of a low speed operation. In particular, when a fuel injection valve of a center injection type in which fuel is directly injected toward a cavity of a piston is employed, flowing back of fuel injected from an injection hole from the cavity and the like may occur. The inventors of the present application have found that the flowing-back fuel adheres to the vicinity of the injection hole, and the adhesion becomes a factor of deposition of deposits. However, since the conventional technique does not consider the adhesion of flowing-back fuel, there is an issue that it is not possible to accurately predict a deposition amount of deposits.

Engine control device, engine control method, and engine system


A combined mode hydrostatic transmission comprises a differential hydraulic motor and a variable capacity hydraulic pump for supplying this motor with pressurized oil. The differential hydraulic motor comprises a swash plate connected to an output shaft and a cylinder block joined to an input shaft. Further provided are a brake which selectively brakes the rotation of the cylinder block and a clutch which selectively interrupts the input rotation to the cylinder block. When the brake is operated and fluid is supplied from the variable capacity hydraulic pump with the clutch disengaged, the differential hydraulic motor functions in a HST mode. When the brake is released, the clutch is connected and fluid is supplied from the variable capacity hydraulic pump, the differential hydraulic motor functions in a HMT mode.

One type of transmission known in the art in which a speed change ratio can be continuously varied, is a hydrostatic transmission (referred to hereafter as HST) comprising a variable capacity hydraulic pump and a variable capacity hydraulic motor.
This HST converts a motive force of an engine to a fluid flowrate and pressure by means of the variable capacity hydraulic pump, and transmits the output to the variable capacity hydraulic motor. The rotation of the motor can be controlled in a stepless fashion, including forward rotation, speed increase/decrease, backward rotation (i.e. rotation in a negative direction) and stop, by controlling the variable capacity hydraulic pump and the angle of a swash plate of the variable capacity hydraulic motor as shown in FIG. 7. Power is transmitted by a fluid flowing through an oil pressure pipe, so there is no mechanical restriction on the positions of the pump and motor, the disposition of these components relative to one another being a matter of free choice. For this reason, HST is widely used in construction machinery, for example.
However there is a problem with HST as regards power transmitting efficiency. As the power is transmitted by oil pressure, the transmitting efficiency is at most approximately 80%, and under normal partial load conditions, it is only of the order of 70-75%.
Further, to increase the speed of input rotation, the capacity of the variable capacity hydraulic motor must be decreased, but if the capacity is decreased, the oil pressure for the same load torque increases. In this case, the torque that can be used must also be controlled such that it decreases together with the rise of output rotation, and as a piston stroke has to be shortened to decrease the capacity, the efficiency also falls by a corresponding amount.
There is also a problem as regards the noise of the variable capacity hydraulic motor. The output rotation of HST is directly proportional to the rotation speed of the variable capacity hydraulic motor, i.e. to the piston speed, as shown in FIG. 8. Noise increases in direct proportion to the piston speed, consequently in the high rotation speed region noise increases, and more discomfort is caused by a rise of acoustic frequencies.
In addition to the aforesaid HST, there is also a mechanical-oil pressure transmission wherein transmission of the power is divided between a mechanical system and an oil pressure system, which is generally referred to as a hydromechanical transmission or HMT.
As one example of this, there is a combination of a differential gear device and HST which is used in driving aircraft generators, and an HMT is also proposed in Japanese Patent Publication (Tokkai Hei)1-250661.
According to this publication, power is transmitted not only by a fluid which has a large transmission loss, but also mechanically until certain conditions. The transmission efficiency is thereby increased. When the angle of the swash plate is in a neutral position, the piston stops, the rotation of the input axis and output axis coincide, and all the power is transmitted mechanically as shown in FIG. 10. The power transmission efficiency then reaches 95%. By controlling the angle of the swash plate, power of oil pressure is added, speed can be increased or decreased. Even when the output rotation speed is increased, a power transmission efficiency exceeding 90% is maintained and there is no variation of oil pressure for the same torque, which are major differences from an HST variable capacity hydraulic motor.
However, HMT has no functions to reverse the output rotation as shown in FIG. 9, and even when the rotation stops, the piston speed is a maximum in this stop position as shown in FIG. 10, so in practice it does not have a stable stop function.
Moreover, as it is required to mechanically transfer power from the input shaft to the output shaft, the positions of the input shaft and output shaft relative to one another are limited, and there is no design freedom as in the case of the input/output shafts of HST.
Further, the hydraulic pump on the input side and the hydraulic motor on the output side are connected not only mechanically but also hydrostatically. Consequently, it is not possible to make a connection to an external oil pressure line, and oil from the hydraulic pump cannot be used for other functions. In other words, as there is only one unique function, it is difficult to apply it to the case of construction machinery where it is required to share oil pressure lines.
HST permits free design, and vehicle wheels or the like may be directly fitted to final drive components. On the other hand, HMT has a low degree of freedom, is difficult to install in final drive components, and involves a more complex system than that of HST. For these reasons, the use of HMT is not so widespread.


Embodiments herein relate to e.g. a method performed by a network node (10) for handling communication of data in a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mesh network (1). The network node obtains a neighbor table, wherein the neighbor table is based on messages received from different network nodes; and selects an association between network nodes in the BLE mesh network (1) taking the neighbor table into account.

In a typical wireless communications network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or user equipments (UE), communicate via a Radio Access Network (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cells, with each service area or cell being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a "NodeB", a "gNodeB", or a "eNodeB". A service area or cell is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the radio network node.
Bluetooth low energy (BLE) is a wireless personal area network technology designed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) aimed at novel applications in the healthcare, fitness, security, and home automation industries. Compared to classic Bluetooth, BLE is intended to provide considerably reduced power consumption and cost while maintaining a similar communication range. On the other hand, the amount of data being transmitted by the BLE devices is much less than the classic Bluetooth devices.
A BLE mesh network comprising BLE mesh nodes, also referred to as network nodes, is an on-going standardization work that aims at extending the coverage of the BLE network. The BLE mesh network uses BLE advertisement channels for data communication so that the BLE mesh nodes that are within a radio range can communicate directly without establishing the data channel communication.
There are two kinds of message forwarding methods considered in the BLE mesh networks, i.e., a flooding method and a routing method. When using the flooding method, all the BLE mesh nodes participate in the forwarding of the message. When using the routing method, a route is created between a route originator (RO) node and a route destination (RD) node. Only relay nodes, also known as routers, which belong to a created route, will forward the message.
As shown in FIG. 1, three advertisement channels are defined in the BLE technology, i.e., ch37, ch38 and ch39. A BLE mesh message is sent at all three advertisement channels within one advertisement event. There is no link layer acknowledgement mechanism defined in the mesh communication. Sometimes, the same message is retransmitted multiple times using multiple advertisement events. A relay node is a device whose radio receiver is always on and scans advertisement channels one at a time. The relay node may sequentially scan the three advertisement channels.
In the BLE mesh network, the routing enabled mesh relay nodes create routes between the RO node(s) and the RD node(s). Once a message is routed, it is only forwarded by the routers which are inside the route from the RO node to the RD node. Other nodes do not forward this message. An algorithm for creating route(s) is a distance vector based algorithm, FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show a general description of this algorithm when a route originator node A wants to create a route to route destination node B.
As shown in FIG. 2A, a RO node A starts a route discovery procedure by sending a route request (RREQ) message through the whole BLE mesh network. The RREQ is a single-hop broadcast message, which means the RREQ is only transmitted one hop to a next router. Any intermediate router that receives this message will generate a new RREQ message, which router uses its own address as a new RREQ network source address. The RREQ message propagation continues until a route destination B receives a RREQ message, shown in FIG. 2B. When route destination node B receives the RREQ messages, the route destination node B selects the "best" router or network node by sending a unicast Route Response (RREP) message. Once the selected network node receives the RREP message, it repeats the same procedure and generates a new RREP message until the RREP message reaches the RO node A. FIG. 2B shows the route creation procedure between RO(A) and RD(B) using RREP. Before device B sends a RREP to network node Q, it has received RREQ messages from network nodes Q, N and X. Different algorithms can be used to choose the best network node. Two algorithms are defined for network node selection in the specification, the hop count based network node selection and receive signal strength indication (RSSI) based network node selection. As defined in the hop-count algorithm, the network node that sends the RREQ using the minimum hop count is selected as the best network node. In the RSSI based algorithm, the network node that sends the RREQ with the maximum accumulated RSSI value is selected as the best network node.
Friendship is used by network nodes such as low-power nodes (LPN) to limit an amount of time that network nodes need to be active and scan for incoming messages. If a network node cannot receive continuously, then it is possible that it will not receive mesh messages that it should process. Friendship is a special relationship between a LPN and one relay node called friend node. Friendship is first established and initiated by the LPN. Once the friendship relationship is established, the friend node maintains a message queue that stores all incoming messages addressed to the LPN. The friend node delivers those messages to the LPN when requested by the same LPN.
Hence, the friendship establishment procedure is initiated by the LPN. As shown in FIG. 3, the LPN firstly sends a friend request message. Each of the network nodes that support friendship features responds by sending back a friend offer message to the requesting LPN. The friend offer messages also include additional information, such as the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measured on a reception of the friend request message and capabilities of each of the offering relay nodes. This allows the LPN to determine which of these friend offer messages the LPN will accept. The LPN will then send a Friend Poll message to its chosen Friend node, to which the Friend node will respond with a Friend Update message. At this point, the friendship is established.
FIG. 4 shows a summary of the RSSI measurement distribution of one BLE mesh relay with five surrounding stationary BLE mesh relay nodes in one hour. The surrounding devices send messages regularly and the measured RSSI values are shown in FIG. 4. The lowest recorded RSSI for the received messages is around −90 dBm. The measurement curve of channels SC2 and RL2 indicate that the RSSI value from the same device may vary around 15 dB. This may be due to that a radio environment is different on different advertising channels and channel varies over time, even on a same advertising channel, due to multi-path fading. The curves show that using one single transient RSSI measurement to assess the advertisement channel is not sufficient and not accurate.
The relay node uses a BLE scanning procedure to receive the RREQ messages. The BLE specification has defined two parameters to control a scanning duty cycle, a first parameter denoted SCAN_INTERVAL and a second parameter denoted SCAN_WINDOW. The relay node stays in one advertisement channel during a SCAN_INTERVAL. The SCAN_WINDOW defines a receiving period during the SCAN_INTERVAL. The relay node shall have a 100% scan duty cycle to receive most of the BLE mesh messages. Once a current scan interval expires, the relay node scans on the next advertisement channel. As defined by the Bluetooth specification, the BLE device shall scan all three advertisement channels one by one. It is not allowed to skip one of the advertisement channels during the scanning.
In this case, in a BLE mesh network, even if an advertisement channel is detected as a "bad channel", the relay node cannot black-list that channel due to this limitation.
A hop-count based routing method creates a route using a minimum number of hops between the RO node and RD node. FIG. 5 shows one simple example when the RO node A wants to create a route to the RD node B. RD node B receives two RREQ messages sent from relay nodes N and Q. The hop count contained in the RREQ from N is 2 (A->M, M->N) and the hop-count of the RREQ sent from Q is 3 (A->E, E->P, P->Q). In this case, the route with hop count 2 is selected since it uses less hop count from the RO node A to reach the RD node B. The communication between RO node A and RD node B via the route created with least hop count also uses shorter delay time and generates less message transactions.
This hop-count based routing method works fine if a radio link between each hop is reliable. However, in a wireless communications network, less hop count usually means longer distance between each hop. The longer the distance between two relay nodes, the lower the signal strength of the received message. Moreover, since the RSSI fluctuates as described above, the radio link created by the hop-count based routing method may easily break since the radio links are already in a relatively low RSSI level. Thus, the route created by only using hop-count may not be stable enough.
Another route selection method defined in the current specification is a signal strength based method. Instead of counting the hop count, the RSSI value of each hop along the route is accumulated and the path with highest RSSI is selected. However, problems could happen when the RSSI of one "poor" radio link is higher than the accumulated RSSI values of several good radio links. For example, in FIG. 5, if the RSSI value between A and M is −85 dBm, it is higher than the accumulated RSSI value of the radio link A->E (−50 dBm) and E->P (−50 dBm), in this case, the route with poor radio link is selected. The signal strength based method cannot guarantee the communication reliability of the created route since the accumulated RSSI does not indicate the RSSI values per hop.
The RSSI value communicated in the friend offer message is based on a single measurement on one advertising channel and does not account for the variability of the RSSI measurement in the other advertising channels. If the radio link with the friend node has bad quality in one of the other channels, successful communication is prevented when the LPN scans on that channel. Losses of data and retransmissions of unsuccessful transmitted data messages are expensive in terms of e.g. power consumption for the LPN and limits or reduces performance of the wireless communication network.

Handling communication of data in a bluetooth low energy (BLE), mesh network


A method and an apparatus for performing charging port detection control are provided, where the method is applied to an electronic device, and a communication port of the electronic device has a functionality of obtaining power from an external power source for the electronic device. The method may include the steps of: detecting whether an output voltage level of a battery of the electronic device reaches a predetermined threshold value; and control operation(s) according to whether the output voltage level reaches the predetermined threshold value. For example, the method may include: when it is detected that the output voltage level is less than the predetermined threshold value, pre-charging the battery with a predetermined pre-charging current level to make the output voltage level reach the predetermined threshold value, and then controlling a detection path switching unit to electrically connect data terminal(s) of the communication port to a charging port detection circuit.

The present invention relates to control of a charging port of an electronic device, and more particularly, to a method for performing charging port detection control, and to an associated apparatus.
A portable electronic device equipped with batteries (e.g., a multifunctional mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet, etc) can be very convenient to a user. According to the related art, the portable electronic device may be designed to have a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, and the user can electrically connect the portable electronic device to an electronic device complying with USB standards through the USB port when needed, or charge the portable electronic device (more particularly, the battery thereof) with a power source temporarily connected to the USB port, where the power source can be a USB charger, or can be a personal computer (PC) since the USB port of the portable electronic device can obtain power from the power source through the USB port. In a situation where high-speed USB signaling is required, some problems may occur. For example, the portable electronic device may suffer from noise due to improper control. In another example, the portable electronic device may suffer from an unwanted leakage current due to improper control. Thus, a novel method is required for enhancing USB port control of an electronic device.

Method and apparatus for performing charging port detection control


Systems and methods are provided for detecting inaccuracy in a product title, comprising identifying, by running a string algorithm on a title associated with a product, at least one product type associated with the product, predicting, using a machine learning algorithm, at least one product type associated with the product based on the title, detecting an inaccuracy in the title, based on at least one of the identification or the prediction, and outputting, to a remote device, a message indicating that the title comprises the inaccuracy. Running the string algorithm may comprise receiving a set of strings, generating a trie based on the received set of strings, receiving the title, and traversing the generated trie using the title to find a match. Using the machine learning algorithm may comprise identifying words in the title, learning a vector representation for each character n-gram of each word, and summing each character n-gram.

Consumers often shop for and purchase various items online through computers and smart devices. These online shoppers often rely on searching through categories of products to find products to purchase. However, the normal online shopping experience is hindered by incorrect or inaccurate product titles.
Millions of products are registered online by sellers every day. Sellers are required to provide information about their products, including the title of each product. However, often times, many sellers include irrelevant words or other inaccurate information in the product title, which do not assist in describing the actual product. For example, in third party platforms for selling products, many sellers input convoluted, messy, fraudulent, or arbitrary titles for product listings for various reasons. In one instance, sellers may input irrelevant words in the product titles as an attempt to create various search tags. For example, if a product includes a disposable cup, sellers may assign a product title, such as a "disposable cup, dish, container, straw, cap, liquid, water," hoping that users searching for a straw would see the disposable cup in their search results. In another instance, sellers may intentionally input titles such that the product would not show up in the search results. Accordingly, sellers may try to draft inaccurate product titles such that the sellers' unpopular products would lose priority over more popular products of the same kind.
Inaccurate product titles may severely reduce a consumer's user experience by prolonging the consumer's product search and by reducing the recommendation quality of the online platform. Furthermore, manually monitoring, filtering, rejecting, or correcting the product titles is often difficult and time-consuming. A consumer's user experience would be significantly improved if the online platform automatically detected inaccurate product titles and notified the sellers of the inaccuracies.
Therefore, there is a need for improved methods and systems for detecting inaccuracies in product titles so that consumers may quickly find and purchase products while online shopping.

Computerized systems and methods for detecting product title inaccuracies


An air bag module, including: an air bag cushion including a front panel and side panels; at least two pockets disposed on the side panels and protruding toward the outside of each of the side panels, when the air bag cushion is unfolded; and an internal horizontal tether crossing an interior of the air bag cushion and having both ends connected to the pockets.

Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to an air bag module. More particularly, exemplary embodiments relate to an air bag module having pockets provided at both side panels of an air bag and having internal horizontal tethers provided inside the pockets.
Discussion of the Background
Generally, a vehicle includes an air bag apparatus, which is a safety apparatus for protecting passengers by expanding an air bag cushion with gas introduced from an inflator at the time of a vehicle accident.
The air bag apparatus may be equipped at several portions of a vehicle, if necessary. As the air bag apparatus, there have been proposed a driver air bag apparatus equipped in a steering wheel to protect a vehicle passenger which is seated in a driver's seat; a passenger airbag apparatus equipped at an upper portion of a glove box to protect a passenger seated in a passenger seat; a curtain air bag apparatus mounted along a loop rail to protect a side of a passenger; etc.
These air bag apparatuses each include an inflator that generates gas, and an air bag cushion connected to the inflator to be expanded and unfolded while being introduced with gas to protect a passenger.
An air bag that has been currently developed uses various kinds of tethers. The air bag includes a vertical tether positioned at the front of a main panel, an internal horizontal tether connecting air bag side panels to each other, a cross tether connecting the internal horizontal tether to the vertical tether, and the like. The existing tethers have been used to improve a shape of the air bag or improve a flow of the airbag after the air bag is unfolded.
The existing air bag tethers, however, fail to sufficiently address limiting the movement of a vehicle passenger at the time of a head-on collision of a vehicle, and thus, have a minimal injury reduction effect. The existing tethers also fail to address limiting the movement of a vehicle passenger at the time of an oblique collision of a vehicle, thereby failing to prevent undesirable separation of a vehicle passenger from the air bag cushion.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the inventive concept, and, therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


A drum supporting structure according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a bearing. The bearing is configured to support a flange of a photosensitive drum connected to a shaft joint member that is connected to a drive shaft through which drive power is transmitted, such that the flange of the photosensitive drum is rotatable. The bearing includes an inner circumferential surface that is fitted on an outer surface of the flange, and two planes that are formed on the inner circumferential surface and that contact with the flange. The bearing supports the flange by the flange contacting with the two planes at two points due to a load applied from a peripheral device to the photosensitive drum, such that the flange is rotatable.

The present disclosure relates to a drum supporting structure for supporting photosensitive drums, image forming apparatuses having the drum supporting structure, and bearings for supporting the photosensitive drums.
To date, in image forming apparatuses such as printers and copy machines, a drum unit including a photosensitive drum has been detachably mounted. Further, in some image forming apparatuses, the photosensitive drums are inserted from above image forming apparatus bodies. In this type of image forming apparatus, the drum unit may be fixed (positioned) by using the following structure.
The apparatus body includes a pair of side plates by which the drum unit is supported. Each of the paired side plates has a cut portion extending in the up-down direction. Further, the apparatus body includes a driving motor, and an apparatus-body-side gear which is driven to rotate by the driving motor. On the other hand, a large-diameter gear that reduces a rotation rate of the driving motor to a predetermined rotation rate for the photosensitive drum is mounted to a rotation shaft of the photosensitive drum. This is for assuredly matching the rotation rate of the photosensitive drum with the rotation rate of the large-diameter gear, to prevent an error therebetween. The rotation shaft of the photosensitive drum is fitted into the cut portions formed on the pair of side plates, thereby mounting the drum unit to the apparatus body. At this time, the apparatus-body-side side gear and the large-diameter gear mesh with each other, and a rotation rate of the driving motor is reduced at a predetermined reduction ratio by the large-diameter gear, thereby transmitting the rotational power of the driving motor to the photosensitive drum.

Drum supporting structure for supporting photosensitive drum, image forming apparatus, and bearing for supporting photosensitive drum


A semiconductor testing apparatus, includes a test signal generating unit that generates a test signal corresponding to a test pattern to output the generated test signal to a device under test (DUT); a comparison signal generating unit that generates a comparison signal by combining a reference signal and the test signal; and a comparing unit that compares a response signal, which is output from the DUT in response to the input of the test signal, and the reference signal by offsetting the test signal contained in a composite signal of the test signal and the response signal and the test signal contained in the comparison signal. The DUT is determined to be defective or not based on a result of comparison by the comparing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor testing apparatuses and methods of testing semiconductors for determining whether a semiconductor device under test is defective or not.
2. Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor testing apparatus provides a test signal as an output to a semiconductor device such as an integrated circuit, and determines whether the semiconductor device is defective or not based on a response signal supplied from the semiconductor device in response. The semiconductor testing apparatus includes plural semiconductor testing circuits, each of which is electrically connected to one of nodes of the semiconductor device under test (DUT). The semiconductor testing circuit applies a test signal to the node of the DUT, detects a response signal supplied from the DUT in response to the applied test signal, and compares the detected response signal with a predetermined reference signal. Generally, the semiconductor testing apparatus determines that the DUT is defective when the detected response signal does not match with the reference signal.
One type of such semiconductor testing circuits employs single transmission connection where an output part for the test signal and an input part for the response signal in the semiconductor testing apparatus are connected to the DUT via a single transmission line. When the single transmission connection is adopted, however, the semiconductor testing apparatus is held in a stand-by state during the reciprocation of the signal when the direction of signal transmission is changed. This delay is called a "round-trip delay." Another type of the semiconductor testing circuits employs dual transmission connection where separate transmission lines are used for the connection between the DUT and the output part for the test signal in the semiconductor testing apparatus and for the connection between the DUT and the input part for the response signal in the semiconductor testing apparatus. When the dual transmission connection is employed, however, the amount of necessary wirings is doubled thereby complicates the structure of the semiconductor testing apparatus. In addition, the dual transmission connection cannot be utilized when driving capacity of the DUT is not sufficient, because the impedance of the line driven by an output terminal of the DUT is halved in the dual transmission connection.
Hence, a semiconductor testing circuit 601 as shown in FIG. 9 is proposed to eliminate such inconvenience (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,725). In the semiconductor testing circuit 601, a subtracter 616 receives at one input part thereof a composite signal generated as a sum of a test signal output from a driver 610 and a response signal output from a DUT 620. On the other hand, the subtracter 616 receives at another input part the test signal output from the driver 610. The subtracter 616 subtracts the test signal from the composite signal of the test signal and the response signal, to output the resulting signal to comparators 618 and 619 as a response signal. Each of the comparators 618 and 619 receives a predetermined reference signal to compare the same with the response signal. When the response signal does not match with the predetermined reference signal, each of the comparators 618 and 619 outputs a predetermined error signal. The semiconductor testing apparatus determines that the DUT 620 is defective when the comparators 618 and 619 output the error signals.
Thus, the semiconductor testing circuit 601 can eliminate the problem of the round-trip delay described above by supplying the response signal, which is a difference between the composite signal of the test signal and the response signal and the test signal, to the comparators 618 and 619. In addition, since the semiconductor testing circuit 601 is connected to the DUT 620 via a single transmission line 630, the apparatus can be realized in a simple structure. Further, another semiconductor testing circuit 701 as shown in FIG. 10 is proposed which includes a replica driver 720 in addition to the elements included in the semiconductor testing circuit 601 (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,563,298 and 6,703,825).
Here, the semiconductor testing circuits 601 and 701 respectively shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 are structured as to include the analog subtracter 616. Generally, it is difficult to satisfy requirements such as an improvement in operation precision, an increase in process speed, and adjustment to broad voltage range at the same time, with the analog subtracter. Hence, the semiconductor testing circuits 601 and 701 can adjust only to a limited voltage range and are incapable of performing a highly precise comparison at the comparators 618 and 619.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 11, an output stage 610b of the driver 610 has transistors 610c and 610d, which means presence of emitter resistance of the range from a few ohms (O) to a few ten O in the driver 610. Since the semiconductor testing circuits 601 and 701 are structured based on the assumption that the output impedance of the driver 610 is zero, a precise comparison as logically expected from the illustrations of FIGS. 9 and 10 cannot be realized in the semiconductor testing circuits 601 and 701 due to the presence of the emitter resistance in the driver 610. Thus, the precise determination on the defectiveness of the DUT is hampered.
Further, the semiconductor testing circuit 601 shown in FIG. 9 is structured as to require a point A, at which an output voltage of a signal output from the driver 610 is detected, between the driver 610 and an output resistor 612. On the other hand, an open collector type driver, for which a transistor serves as a coupling point, is structured as not to include the point A, at which the output voltage of a signal output from the driver 610 is detected. Hence, the open collector type driver cannot be utilized as the driver 610 in the semiconductor testing circuit 601. Thus, a driver structure employable in the semiconductor testing circuit 601 is limited.

Semiconductor testing apparatus and method of testing semiconductor


A magnetic-drive coupling pump configuration including an attachment/detachment mechanism allowing simple and reliable positioning and fixation is provided. Thrust-direction positioning and radial-direction positioning are achieved, respectively, by surface contact of a convex portion of a pump unit (10) inserted up to a predetermined position in a concave portion (31) of a drive motor unit (30), and contact between an outer circumferential surface of the convex portion (11) and an inner circumferential surface of the concave portion (31). A claw (15) protruding on the outer circumferential surface of the pump unit (10), an engaging portion (32) protruding upward from an upper outer circumferential portion of the drive motor unit (30) to restrict, by engagement, claw upward movement when the pump unit (10) is rotated with the convex portion (11) inserted up to the predetermined position in the concave portion (31), and a locking mechanism (50) holding the pump unit (10) at an engagement position of the claw (15) and the engaging portion (32) are included.

Conventionally, a magnetic drive pump configuration is known that applies pressure on liquid by rotating an impeller by magnetic force.
With such a magnetic drive pump configuration, an impeller having an inner magnet (a driven magnet) is accommodated in a pump unit, and is rotatably supported via a non-contact bearing such as a magnetic bearing or a hydrodynamic bearing. Also, the impeller accommodated in the pump unit is not driven by a shaft coupled to a drive motor, but is indirectly driven while separated from a drive source, by the use of magnetic force (attraction force of the magnet).
Accordingly, a drive motor unit accommodating an outer magnet (a driving magnet) that rotates together with a drive motor is configured separately from the pump unit accommodating the impeller to which the inner magnet, which is to be attracted to the outer magnet, is attached. That is, the pump unit and the drive motor unit described above have separate casings, rendering a pump configuration according to which a coupling portion such as a drive shaft, for example, is not present in a drive mechanism for transmitting power for rotating the impeller.
By adopting the magnetic driving described above, an assembly configuration where the pump unit is inserted into a concave portion of the drive motor unit and the two are integrated by a screw or a detent is achieved, and this integrated configuration is referred to as a coupling pump configuration. In this case, the outer magnet is provided to a concave casing formed on the drive motor unit, and the inner magnet is provided to a convex casing formed on the pump unit.
Additionally, magnetic force in the direction of drawing the pump unit into the drive motor unit acts between the pump unit and the drive motor unit.
Furthermore, PTL 1 mentioned below discloses a blood pump which can be separated into a pump chamber and a magnet housing chamber so as to enable incineration of the pump chamber to thereby produce almost no ash. In this case, when a rotary body and a drive shaft in the magnet housing chamber are rotated, since the drive shaft is coupled to a rotating shaft by a joint, an impeller rotates together with the drive shaft and the rotating shaft. That is, according to the pump configuration disclosed in PTL 1, an impeller inside the pump chamber is coupled to a drive unit inside the magnet housing chamber by a shaft.


In a multiphase motor driver, each phase current is controlled by the ratio of measurements across a common sense element. By utilizing the same sense element for each phase, inaccuracies which result from the variance among multiple sense elements can be eliminated. The individual phase currents are controlled from a common clock generation device. By appropriately controlling each of the phase currents to assure that only one of the phase currents is flowing through the sense element at the time of measurement, the measurement is assured to be dependent on the individual current and the parametric value of the sense element only. Thereby, the control of the phase currents, via the ratio of the measured values across the common sense element, is independent of the parametric value of this common sense element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a controller for a multiphase motor, and in particular a controller for a multiphase stepper motor. Such motors are typically used for precise and repeatable angular rotations, for example, accurate machine positioning. Controlled angular positioning is accomplished by suitably adjusting the ratio of currents supplied to each phase winding of the motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multiphase motors are commonly used to precisely adjust the angular rotation of the motor shaft by applying appropriate currents to windings in the motor which have a fixed phase relation to each other. For example, a two phase motor may be constructed with two sets of windings about poles which are orthogonal to each other. Applying current to one set will force the poles on the motor shaft to align with the activated poles; subsequently switching the current to the other set will force the poles to align with this second set of poles, thereby forcing a 90 degree rotation of the shaft. Removing the current from the second set and applying an opposite current to the first set will force another 90 degree rotation, and so on. Each winding set is referred to as a phase winding, or merely a phase, of the motor. Each phase may comprise multiple poles within the motor, such that the rotation from one set of poles to another, the step angle, is a submultiple of the entire 360 degree rotation. For example, an eight pole motor has a step angle of 45 degrees, while a 16 pole motor has a step angle of 22.5 degrees. Traditionally, multiphase motors are designed to have two or three phases, although five phase motors are not uncommon. For ease of understanding, unless otherwise noted, a two phase motor will be assumed, but the principles of this invention are not intended to be limited to a two phase motor, as will be evident to one skilled in the art. Also, for ease of understanding, because stepper motors are the most common form of multiphase motors, the stepper motor will be presented for illustrative purposes herein, although the principles contained herein are applicable to alternative multiphase motors such as D.C. servo motors, A.C. synchronous motors, and the like.
Applying current to both phase windings of a two phase stepper motor will force the shaft to be located somewhere between the winding poles; for example, applying equal current to each winding pole in the above orthogonal pole example will result in a 45 degree rotation, as the shaft poles are equally attracted to each of the orthogonal poles. A microstepping motor allows for continuously variable currents to be applied to each winding set, thereby allowing the shaft to be rotated to the desired angular position between the fixed winding poles.
The ratio of the currents applied to each phase winding will determine the amount of rotation within a given step size. As noted above, applying equal currents will result in the location of the shaft to the midpoint between the poles. To effect the control of the current which is applied to a motor winding, a motor driver as shown in FIG. 1 may be utilized. In FIG. 1a, a motor driver 20 comprises an oscillator 120, a flip-flop 130, a voltage comparator 140, and a switch S1. The oscillator 120 is connected to a timing circuit TOSC, which is used to set the nominal frequency of the oscillator 120, so as to periodically set the flip-flop 130. The output 131 of the flip-flop 130 controls the switch S1. A motor M, having a winding 100, is connected in series between a voltage source 101 and the switch S1. A resistor R.sub.S 110 is connected in series between common ground and the switch S1. When the flip-flop is set, the switch S1 connects the motor M to the resistor R.sub.S, thereby allowing current to flow from the voltage source 101, through the motor M and resistor R.sub.S, to ground. When the flip-flop is reset, the switch S1 is opened, and current no longer flows through R.sub.S to ground. Being an inductive device, the current in the motor M cannot instantaneously go to zero; not shown are components which allow for inductive current to continue to flow/decay after switching, well known to those skilled in the art. For ease of understanding, unless otherwise noted, the currents referred to herein are the currents directly related to the supply source 101, and not those associated with residual, inductive currents.
The voltage across the resistor R.sub.S will be directly proportional to the current supplied to the motor M from voltage source 101, heretofore referred to as the winding current. The comparator 140 compares this voltage 111 to a control voltage VC. When the voltage 111 across the resistor R.sub.S equals the control voltage VC, the flip-flop 130 is reset, terminating the current flow. Optionally, the flip-flop 130 may also be fed back to the oscillator 120, to initiate an "off" time period; alternatively, the oscillator could be free running at a nominal frequency determined by TOSC. After a time period, determined by TOSC, the oscillator output 121 changes state and sets flip-flop 130, which closes switch S1, thereby providing current to the motor M again. Thus, by controlling the voltage VC, the current flow to the motor can be controlled.
Shown in FIG. 1b is a motor driver 10 having a second switch S2 to set the polarity of the current flowing through the motor M. Via signal P, the current to the winding can flow in either direction. Because stepper motors typically require polarity reversals, the circuit 10 shown in FIG. 1b is the more commonly used circuit for motor drivers.
Shown in FIG. 2 is the use of a pair of motor drivers 10a and 10b for a two phase stepper motor M comprising windings W.sub.A and W.sub.B. A controller 250 determines the polarity and magnitude of the current to be applied to each phase winding. The voltage level VC corresponding to the desired current magnitude is also determined, being the product of the desired current magnitude and the value of the current sensing resistor R.sub.S. The controller provides the input to each motor driver 10a and 10b as Pa, VC.sub.A and Pb, VC.sub.B, respectively. Each motor driver supplies the current to the winding by connecting each winding to ground, via resistors R.sub.SA and R.sub.SB, as discussed above, until the voltage across each resistor R.sub.SA and R.sub.SB equals VC.sub.A and VC.sub.B, respectively.
If both drivers operate independently, both windings may be switched on at the same time, and the source must be designed to accommodate supplying the cumulative current. If, on the other hand, the drivers are synchronized, such that they each supply current to their associated winding sequentially, the supply need only be designed to supply the maximum current required of each, rather than the cumulative current. Shown in FIG. 2 is a conventional means for synchronizing the operation of drivers 10a and 10b. An edge detector 210 determines when current is switched from winding W.sub.A. At this time of switching, the timing circuit T.sub.B which controls motor driver 10b is forced to a reset value by diode 220. By forcing a reset of the timing circuit T.sub.B at the time that current is switched from winding W.sub.A, current flows to winding W.sub.A after flowing in winding W.sub.A, in a sequential manner. Note that this synchronization requires sufficient current flowing to winding W.sub.A such that the edge detector 210 can detect the cessation of current. If the current flowing to winding W.sub.A is so slight as to preclude edge detection, both drivers will operate asynchronously. Because the intent of this synchronization is to preclude excessive supply current, an overlap of currents when the current flowing to winding W.sub.A is slight is not considered a problem.
The conventional synchronous motor control discussed above will be designed such that the sum of the on-times of both the windings is less than or equal to the overall cycle time. In this way, a long duration on-time to one winding will be offset by the corresponding short duration on-time of the other winding. Note that in the conventional synchronous motor control of FIG. 2, if the on-time of motor driver 10b is greater than the off-time of motor driver 10a, current will flow in both windings W.sub.A and W.sub.B simultaneously. Because it is assumed that this potential overlap period is slight, and that during this potential overlap period, the current in winding W.sub.A will be slight, this potential simultaneous current flow is not considered a problem.
As discussed above, the controller 250 sets the control voltages VC.sub.A and VC.sub.B as required so as to produce the appropriate currents in windings W.sub.A and W.sub.B. The association of these control voltages to the desired current is directly proportional to the value of the sensing resistors R.sub.SA and R.sub.SB. In determining the control voltages, the controller must use the nominal resistance values of the resistors; any inaccuracy in the resistor values will be reflected as an inaccuracy in the duration that the source current is applied, with a resultant inaccuracy in the position of the motor shaft. For this reason, the sense resistors used for motor drivers in high precision applications are typically specified with very tight tolerances, typically 1% or less. Often, pairs of resistors are hand sorted to provide for closely matched pairs. Note also that all of the motor current flows through the sense resistor, and therefore the sense resistors are also specified to be capable of handling high current flow. High power, tight tolerance resistors are costly, and subject to high thermal stress. Over time, the resistance values may change, and inaccuracies can be introduced; highly precise motor controllers often require initial calibration and subsequent recalibrations to minimize the inaccuracies associated with the sensing resistors.

Current regulated multiphase motor driver with a common current sense element

Philips Electronics North America Corporation


An optimization methodology is employed to match vibratory inhaler devices having certain characteristics to the particular anatomical and acoustic properties of a patient's vocal tract, in order to achieve the most effective dispersion of a dry powder medicament using inspiratory effort of a user of the inhaler. In embodiments, optimization involves employing one or more measurements of acoustic frequency spectrum properties as well as one or more anatomical/geometric measurements of the structures comprising the particular patient's mouth, pharynx, and upper respiratory tract and matching a vibratory inhalation device that corresponds thereto.

The human respiratory tract has an extensive blood supply and its total surface area is about 75-140 square meters in adults, features which make it attractive as a route for administering medicaments (drugs). Local administration of drugs intended to target pulmonary sites of action, as in asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), is the traditional application for drug delivery by the respiratory route. However, systemic administration of drugs through the lungs is also attractive for substances that undergo metabolic breakdown in the gastrointestinal tract and are unsuitable for oral administration. Large molecules, such as peptides and proteins, that cannot pass the absorbing membrane after oral administration (insulin as one example) are potential substances for which pulmonary route of administration may be preferable to other routes. Additionally, drugs that undergo extensive 'first-pass' metabolism in the liver may be better to administer via the pulmonary route. The lungs have inherent anatomical and physiological advantages for administration of such drugs. The lungs are robust organs that provide a large (75-140 m2) and well-perfused alveolar surface for absorption with a thin alveolar-capillary barrier and only modest regional variation in the amount of mucus production. Most of the lungs' surface area resides in the alveolated regions of the deep lung, which also contains a rich capillary network to assure efficient gas exchange during the breathing process. There is a lack of mucociliary clearance at the alveolar region so that drug that is deposited in the deep lung is not likely to be expelled and is likely to be absorbed into the bloodstream. The lungs also lack certain peptidases that are present in the gastrointestinal tract, so that bioavailability of peptide or protein drugs may approach that for parenteral routes of administration.
As with other drug delivery routes that are alternatives to oral administration, there are potential challenges to be overcome with drugs being delivered through the lungs. This is because of the number of factors that can strongly influence the efficacy of drug delivery via the pulmonary system, including: particle size, particle density, particle surface morphology, particle charge, hygroscopicity of the particles, rate of dissolution of particles at the site of deposition, the patient's breathing pattern (especially the inspiratory flow rate and the extent of inhalation; slow and deep inhalation tend to increase alveolar deposition), patient comorbidities (such as interstitial lung disease or airflow obstruction), losses within the device or the environment, as well as other factors. Among these factors, particle size distribution is arguably the most critical. The optimal particle size (aerodynamic diameter) for deep (alveolar) pulmonary deposition of particles is around 1-3 μm in diameter. Larger particles become lodged in the upper respiratory tract. Particles smaller than about 0.5 μm tend to be exhaled and not deposited in the respiratory tract at all. In this connection, it is important to note that the size distribution of inhaled aerosolized drug particles is not a constant, as-manufactured size distribution. The sizes of particles in the aerosol plume change continuously during the course of the patient's inhaled 'puff' (inspiratory maneuver), due to a variety of physical processes such as agglomeration (coagulation) through collisions with other inhaled particles, condensation of water vapor on the particles, evaporation in the case of liquid particles, and so forth.
The main challenge in the design of formulations to be delivered to the lungs is the incorporation of the drug in particles with an appropriate aerodynamic size distribution. Past research efforts investigated the deposition profiles for an inhaled nebulizer cloud as predicted from model which assume oral breathing and healthy subjects. For example, some studies determined that oropharyngeal deposition decreases with decreasing median particle diameter, falling from 60% of the inhaled dose at 10 μm to almost 0% below 1 μm. Central airway deposition peaks at 5-7 μm and peripheral airway deposition at 2-3 μm. However, it must be considered that usually the patient's respiratory system status in disease is an important factor that affects directly the behavior of the particles once inhaled. As previously mentioned, particles smaller than 0.5 μm are frequently not deposited in the respiratory tract but are exhaled.
The aerodynamic diameter refers not only to the geometric particle diameter, but also to the particle mass density. Larger but porous particles have been also proposed as an option for reducing inertial impaction of particles onto surfaces in the throat, thereby improving the chance that the particles will reach the alveolar region. However, large, porous particles have large surface area and, in general, are more susceptible to condensation of water vapor from the humid airstream during their progress through the respiratory flow path. In the case of highly hygroscopic particles, this can not only lead to increases in particle size but also increases in particle density.
As the aerosol plume passes from the inhaler device into the patient's airways, the particle size may change by evaporation of the volatile components (solvents) on the surface of inhaled liquid droplets, by condensation of water vapor from the humid airways upon the inhaled droplets or powder particles, and by agglomeration of particles that collide with one another during transit. The transit time during the inspiratory maneuver by which the aerosol plume is inhaled into the patient's respiratory tract has a duration of hundreds of milliseconds or longer. The particle size distribution changes in the particle plume during this time may be substantial. In many cases, the mean particle size may increase by a factor of two or more, by processes of particle-particle collisions and agglomeration (coagulation). The larger particles undergo greater inertial impaction on mouth and oropharynx and other structures of the upper respiratory tract or are precipitated and settle within the inhaler device itself. Therefore, the development of effective pulmonary delivery systems that can reach the alveoli is still a challenge. Furthermore, the interaction of the aerosol plume may be significantly influenced by respiratory physiology, inspiratory airflow parameters, and attributes of a patient's upper airway anatomy. In particular, aerosolization mechanisms that involve vibratory elements that emit acoustic frequencies at audible and ultrasonic frequencies may either accelerate or inhibit particle agglomeration, depending on these attributes.
The generation of clouds of droplets by means of acoustic waves was first reported in 1927. Two different mechanisms explain atomization, capillary waves and, in the case of ultrasonic frequencies, cavitation. The Kelvin equation for capillary waves is described as:
   λ  =         (               2            π            σ                       ρ              f            2             )          1    3
where:
λ=Wavelength of surface waves at the air/liquid interface
σ=Surface tension coefficient
ρ=Liquid density
f=Frequency of the surface waves
After further investigations, the Kelvin equation was later modified and the following expression derived:
   λ  =         (               8            πσ                       ρ              F            2             )          1    3
where F is the forcing sound frequency or frequency of the acoustic signal. These theoretical bases were already established when in 1927 the possibility of atomizing liquid by exciting them with ultrasonic waves was described. Decades later, it was determined that the expression relating the wavelength to droplet size D could be through an empirical constant, which was experimentally reported to be 0.34.
   D  =         0    .    3         4               (                  8              πσ                           ρ                F              2                )             1     3
Based on this principle, nebulizer devices currently in the market operate at relatively high frequencies (usually 20 to 200 KHz) aiming to impart energy to the liquid efficiently to generate small droplet size distributions, while formulations to be nebulized under this principle should have higher densities and lower surface tension values in order to achieve lower droplet diameters. Likewise, vibratory dry power inhaler (DPI) devices tend also to operate at relatively high frequencies (usually greater than 2 KHz) aiming to transfer energy efficiently to the powder to cause deagglomeration and nearly complete dispersal of the solid powder into a plume having a small particle size distribution capable of achieving extensive alveolar deposition.
Some dry powder inhalers and nebulizer devices employ vibratory means to disperse an amount of a drug powder into an aerosol that is carried on the stream of inspired air as an aerosol 'plume' (referred to herein as "vibratory inhalers"). With vibratory inhalers, acoustical vibrations created by the dispersal elements have a frequency spectrum that generally interacts with the acoustic properties of the patient's mouth, pharynx, and upper airway. The transit time for air between the inner aspect of the teeth to the upper aspect of the vocal folds is sufficiently long that significant coagulation of powder particles can occur en route. If the frequency spectrum of the vibratory inhaler device is matched to the acoustic properties of the patient's upper respiratory flow-path, the acoustic vibrations emitted by the vibratory dispersal element may substantially inhibit the undesired coagulation and precipitation and/or impaction upon the surfaces of these upper structures, permitting more of the powdered pharmaceutical formulation to enter the deep lung and proceed to the preferred sites of deposition. If on the other hand the frequency spectrum of the vibratory inhaler device is ill-matched to the acoustic properties of the patient's flow-path, then coagulation and precipitation or impaction may be significantly worse, resulting in non-efficacy of the inhaled drug due to failure of the device to deliver the drug to the proper site of action.
The fluid mechanical 'resistance' of a vibratory inhaler device has been evaluated as it relates to the ability of a patient to mount an adequate inspiratory effort to achieve adequate air velocities through the device. However, little, if any, attention has been paid to the acoustic properties of vibratory inhaler dispersal mechanisms and their relationship to vocal tract acoustic spectral properties and to changes in the 'fine particle fraction' (FPF) and decreases in particle count concentration as the inhaled aerosol plume progresses into the respiratory tract.
Conventional single and multiple dose dry powder inhaler devices use: (a) individual pre-measured doses in blisters containing the drug, which can be inserted into the device prior to dispensing; or (b) bulk powder reservoirs which are configured to administer successive quantities of the drug to the patient via a dispensing chamber which dispenses the proper dose. In operation, vibratory inhaler devices strive to administer a uniform aerosol dispersion amount in a desired physical form of the dry powder (such as a particulate size) into a patient's airway and direct it to a desired deposit site(s).
A number of obstacles can undesirably impact the performance of dry powder inhalers. For example, the small size of the inhalable particles in the dry powder drug mixture can subject them to forces of agglomeration and/or cohesion (certain types of dry powders are susceptible to agglomeration, which is typically caused by particles of the drug adhering together), which can result in poor flow and non-uniform dispersion. In addition, as noted above, many dry powder formulations employ larger excipient particles to promote flow properties of the drug. However, separation of the drug from the excipient, as well as the presence of agglomeration, can require additional inspiratory effort, which, again, can impact the stable dispersion of the powder within the air stream of the patient. Unstable dispersions may inhibit the drug from reaching its preferred deposit/destination site and can prematurely deposit undue amounts of the drug elsewhere. Similar obstacles also affect active vibratory nebulizer devices. Further, some vibratory inhalers can retain a significant amount of the drug within the device, which can be especially problematic over time.
Some inhalation devices have attempted to resolve problems attendant with conventional 'passive' inhalers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,523 to Hodson et al. proposes a dry powder inhalation device which has a deagglomeration/aerosolization plunger rod or biased hammer and solenoid, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,264 to Wilke et al. proposes the use of a battery-powered electromechanical element to vibrate the capsule to effectuate the release of the powder contained therein. These devices propose to facilitate the release of the dry powder by the use of energy input independent of patient respiratory effort. U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,663 to Eisele et al. proposes a dry powder inhaler delivery system with a rotatable carrier disk having a blister shell sealed by a shear layer that uses an actuator that tears away the shear layer to release the powder drug contents. The device also proposes a mouthpiece cover that is attached to a bottom portion of the inhaler. U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,502 to Piper proposes a powder inhaler using the patient's inspiratory effort to generating a respirable aerosol and also includes a rotatable cartridge holding the depressed wells or blisters defining the drug reservoirs. A spring-loaded carriage compresses the blister against conduits with sharp edges that puncture the blister to release the drug that is then entrained in air drawn in from the air inlet conduit so that aerosolized drug is emitted from the aerosol outlet conduit and into the patient. The published U.S. Pat. Appl No. 20070209661 of Smyth et al. also proposes a passive aeroelastic mechanism to vibrate and disperse powder using patient inspiratory efforts in a manner that is tolerant of a wide range of inspired air velocities and flow-rates. The contents of all of these patents and applications are hereby incorporated by reference as if stated in full herein. Hickey et al., in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/434,009 and PCT Patent Publication No. WO 01/68169A1 and related U.S. National Stage patent application Ser. No. 10/204,609, have proposed a DPI system to 'actively' facilitate the dispersion and release of dry powder drug formulations during inhalation using vibrating piezoelectric elements which may promote or increase the quantity of fine particle fraction particles dispersed or emitted from the device over conventional DPI systems. The contents of these documents are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein. Each of these active and passive inhaler devices imparts energy to the drug in order to deagglomerate it and aerosolize it, and does so with acoustic vibrations of the airstream, either directly (as the primary means of aerosolization) or indirectly (secondary to the motions of the elements involved in generation of the aerosol).

Matching of inhalers to patient vocal tract for optimization of particle dispersion


Oral compositions containing an effective amount of a tungsten compound (VI), preferably a tungstate salt, more preferably sodium tungstate (Na2WO4), are useful in controlling obesity/overweightness in non-diabetic mammals, including humans. The anti-obesity effect of sodium tungstate dihydrate in rats has been determined in a cafeteria-diet-induced obesity model. Said obese rats are good models of obese, non-diabetic mammals, including humans. The prophylactic, therapeutic and/or cosmetic treatment resulting from this invention is surprising. It provides advantages such as effectiveness, lack of toxicity and relatively low price in comparison with other treatments in prior art. Hence, the oral compositions according to the invention are useful for the treatment of obesity/overweightness in non-diabetic mammals, including humans.

Obesity/overweight is a chronic metabolic disorder in which excess of body fat causes or increases the risk of suffering many health problems. In particular, it is associated with coronary heart disease, development of certain forms of cancer, respiratory problems, and cholelithiasis. It is a complex disorder determined by interactions between genetic, environmental and psychosocial factors that affect the balance between energy intake and expenditure. Human obesity, defined as a body-mass index higher than 30 Kg/m2, is a major and costly disease in developed countries, with an approximate prevalence of 15–20% in Europe and 20–25% in United States. However it is also present, and increasing, in Latin America and Southeast and Middleast Asia. Despite the importance of obesity as a medical and social problem, nowadays there is not any totally effective treatment available.
Attempts to solve the problem of obesity/overweight by reducing food intake, with o without antiorexic therapy, or by doing physical exercise, are well known. But also known are the difficulties, limitations and general lack of success of all these approaches. Pharmacotherapy of obesity/overweight has been studied by using e.g. dexfenfluramine, sibutramine, orlistat and phentermine; but none of these agents has proved to be totally satisfactory.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,763 teaches the use of tungsten (VI) compositions as insulin-mimicker drugs for the treatment of human suffering from diabetes mellitus. Although humans suffering from type 2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; NIDDM) may also show obesity symptoms, both pathologies (diabetes and obesity) are considered clinically different from each other. Actually, many humans suffering from obesity are never considered as diabetic. The present invention specifically refers to the treatment of obesity in the patient population of non-diabetic, obese humans. Tungsten compounds have never been suggested for such a treatment.
Thus, the provision of new products for the treatment of obesity/overweight in non-diabetic mammals, including humans, is still of major importance.

Oral compositions for the treatment of  non-diabetic obese mammals, including humans


An apparatus for interfacing at least one landline telephone service, at least one wireless cellular-type telephone service, at least one cellular-type wireless telephone and at least one standard telephonic type communication device through standard building interior telephone cable.

The present invention relates to a system which integrates a standard telephonic type communication device, a cellular-type wireless service, a cellular interface system such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,096, issued Apr. 14, 1987 to West et al., existing telephone wiring installed within a building, and a telephone company wireline service. In particular, the standard telephonic type communication device, when connected to the invention, is capable of selectively both receiving and initiating calls over the cellular type wireless service as well as also both receiving and initiating calls over the telephone company wireline service.
Known cellular interface products such as the Telular Phonecell™, PCSone™, of Telular Corporation, Buffalo Grove, Ill., and competing products from other companies, had difficulty in being connected to one or more telephone extensions located in other areas of a building remote from the interface. The Telular PCSone™ System shown pictorially in FIG. 1, is a combination charging circuit and docking station for hand-held cellular transceivers such as the Motorola MICRO-TAC™ transceiver which allows the coupling of a standard telephone type communication device, such as a facsimile, modem, plain old telephone (POT) or any other device that would normally be coupled to a standard telephone wall jack. Connection of more than one telephone extension at separate locations within the building disadvantageously required that separate wiring be installed in the building or required a trained installer to rewire the existing installed telephone wiring of a building, often with unsatisfactory results. After this installation or rewiring effort, two single line standard telephones were necessary to access both the telephone company and cellular-type service (cellular). A two line telephone would be required if a single instrument would be used to access both the telephone company (telco) wireline service as well as the cellular interface line. When an incoming or outgoing call would occur, there was often confusion as to whether the telco service or the cellular service was being accessed.
In addition, with the known cellular interface a consumer often made a mistake in the installation of this type of product by not reading the manual and incorrectly plugging the cellular interface directly into the telco service line. This was in violation of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Part 68 rules and invited possible damage to the cellular interface and to the telco equipment. Known cellular interfaces were difficult to be installed by individuals possessing no technical knowledge of electricity or of the telephone system. Each building is different as to whether it has telco line 1 wiring installed, telco line 2 wiring installed, wiring shorts between wires on telco line 1 or line 2, an active Telco line 1, or an active Telco line 2. Because of all these variables, there was difficulty for the consumer to effectively and consistently be able to properly install a known cellular interface in a dwelling without a large number of consumer problems, and perhaps significant numbers of damaged cellular interface devices. Prior art interfaces lacked adaptive intelligence and system diagnostics to sense the unique environment into which it was installed and properly react to it. Although prior art cellular interfaces allowed a standard telephonic type communication device to be connected to cellular service, prior art interfaces disadvantageously did not allow a standard telephonic type communication device to be selectively switched between wireline and cellular service. Prior art interfaces had no provision for connection to a wireline telephone company service.
This invention is directed at solving these and other disadvantages of the prior art.

Concurrent wireless/landline interface apparatus and method


A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) having any arbitrary structure is translated into a multi-dimensional data model suitable for performing OLAP operations upon. If a relational table defining the relational model includes any tables with cardinality of 1,1 or 0,1, the tables are merged into a single table. If the relational table is not normalized, then normalization is performed and a relationship between the original table and the normalized table is created. If the relational table is normalized, but not by dependence between columns, such as in the dimension table in a snowflake schema, the normalization process is performed using the foreign key in order to generate the normalized table. Once the normalized table is generated, OLAP measures are derived from the normalized relational table by an automated method. In addition, OLAP dimensions are derived from the normalized relational table and the results of the OLAP measures derivation by an automated method according to the present invention. According to an aspect, it is possible to associate a member of a dimension to another member of the same or another dimension. According to another aspect, it is possible to create a new dimension of analysis, the members of which are all the different values that a scalar expression can take on. According to yet another aspect, it is possible to access the various instances of a Reporting Object as members in an OLAP dimension. According to the yet another aspect, it is possible to apply opaque filters or a combination of them to the data that underlies analysis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention applies to the field of On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP); and specifically, to the field of On-Line Analytical Processing that accesses relational databases.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A significant advantage of an OLAP data source is that the data are organized in an understandable manner for the end user. The physical representation of the data is separated from the semantic layer presented to the end user. It can be very useful to help the end user to define this kind on layer on top of any type of data source. An ideal tool takes any heterogenous data source and displays the data in a unified semantic layer.
You can see each hierarchy that composes a dimension one different dimension by hierarchy.
According to the present invention, it is possible to map all relational models to OLAP models. The process is highly automated according to the present invention
An OLAP data source is a database like a RDBMS. The OLAP model is similar to a data warehouse. It is composed of one or more fact table (multi-cube versus hypercube) and dimensions table links this fact table. In the OLAP model, you do not see the key and relation, only the useful object. The object is typed (dimension, measure, member) and presented in an organized manner. An OLAP data source use important abstraction between the data storage and the data representation.
Two differences between an OLAP data source and a RDBMS are evident: namely the speed and the capacity to perform complex calculations.
There is need to leverage the gap between the data sources capabilities to offer a generic query tool that is not dependent of the data source. A difference between the two models is the complex calculations such as row based calculations in the OLAP model. The row base calculations are possible, but very complicated with a RDBMS and the SQL language.
A foreign key is an attribute (or attribute combination) in one relation R2 whose values are required to match those of the primary key of some relation R1 (R1 and R2 not necessarily distinct).

Mapping of an RDBMS schema onto a multidimensional data model


A power supply control method controls a supply of a power supply voltage from an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to an information processing apparatus based on time information that is set in advance and indicates a date and time of turning ON and cutting OFF the supply of the power supply voltage. The power supply control method monitors, by a power supply control unit within the information processing apparatus, ON and/or OFF supply states of the power supply voltage with respect to the information processing apparatus at a time specified by the time information; and manages the ON and/or OFF supply states that are monitored, in a referable manner.

This application claims the benefit of a Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-253110 filed Aug. 31, 2004, in the Japanese Patent Office, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to power supply control methods, power supply control units and information processing apparatuses, and more particularly to a power supply control method using an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), a power supply control unit and an information processing apparatus that are used with an UPS.
2. Description of the Related Art
Depending on the usage of an information processing apparatus such as a general-purpose computer, the information processing apparatus is in a state connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), so that the information processing apparatus can continue to operate even when a supply from an A.C. power supply stops due to a power failure or the like. The UPS is connected to the A.C. power supply. During normal operation, the information processing apparatus operates based on a power supply voltage that is supplied from the A.C. power supply via the UPS. When the supply of the power supply voltage from the A.C. power supply stops due to a power failure or the like, the UPS detects this abnormality and automatically supplies a power supply voltage from a battery or the like to the information processing apparatus, in place of the A.C. power supply. As a result, the information processing apparatus can continue to operate even when the abnormality such as the power failure occurs.
Some information processing apparatuses are provided with a schedule setting application that manages a schedule with which the supply of the power supply voltage is to be turned ON and cut OFF. When ON/OFF time information related to dates and times for turning ON and cutting OFF the supply of the power supply voltage is set to the schedule setting application, the ON/OFF time information is supplied to the UPS, and the UPS controls the ON/OFF of the supply of the power supply voltage to the information processing apparatus based on the ON/OFF time information.
However, the supply of the power supply voltage may not made based on the ON/OFF time information if a failure of the information processing apparatus and/or a failure of the UPS occur. For example, even though the schedule for turning ON the supply of the power supply voltage to the information processing apparatus at a certain date and time has been set to the schedule setting application, the supply of the power supply voltage to the information processing apparatus may not occur at the certain date and time. In such a case, an operator of the information processing apparatus must investigate the cause, that is, why the supply of the power supply voltage did not occur at the certain date and time, and attend to the repair of the failure. But when investigating the cause, the operator must first determine whether the failure occurred in the information processing apparatus or in the UPS, before detecting the actual location of the failure within the information processing apparatus or UPS, and then attend to the actual repair of the failure. Consequently, an extremely troublesome and time-consuming operation was required to restore the information processing apparatus and also the UPS if applicable. In addition, the reliability of the information processing apparatus deteriorated due to the time-consuming restoration operation.

Power supply control method, power supply control unit and information processing apparatus