Multispectral signature analysis techniques are used to reliably separate a missile electro-optical signal from a background. The system provides higher reliability and reduced complexity when compared to conventional approaches.

Strategic and tactical missile detection and target detection require basically two functions. First, is the detection of the missile launch and the burning of the propellant during acceleration into the ballistic trajectory. Secondly, the missile must be tracked to determine where it is targeted. In the event of multiple launches, the number of missiles need to be counted and tracked at substantially the same time.
Traditionally, strategic and tactical missile launch detection and tracking systems use infrared surveillance techniques employed by satellite sensors. The satellite sensors are required to view the whole earth at one time because the missiles could be launched from any location. It is necessary to determine where the missile is going and, from the trajectory, to find where the missile is likely to hit with a high probability of detection. For example, it is usually required to have a probability of detection of at least 99% and to avoid a false detection to a probability of less than once per month.
Based on these requirements, satellite sensing systems have been developed that contain many individual picture elements or pixels so that the systems can detect, count and track missiles anywhere on the earth. In order to track missiles to the accuracy required, it is generally necessary that the pixels have an extremely high resolution so that they can observe about a 1.5 kilometer square grid on the earth every few seconds. To do this with a staring array several millions of pixels are often needed. Surveillance systems using these large staring arrays are quite heavy (for example, about 6,000 to 8,000 pounds) due, in large part, to the multiplicity of pixel elements employed. To launch a satellite using such large staring arrays, expensive and heavy spacecraft launch vehicles, such as the Titan IV, must be used. This, of course, undesirably increases the cost of the project. The number of pixels can be reduced by scanning sensors but the pixels must be scanned at such a high rate that it produces an exceedingly large number of operations per second for the on-board satellite computer. Alternatively, all of the sensor data can be transmitted to the ground with a wide band data link. However, this is less desirable than on-board processing because it is less robust and radiation hard when compared with the narrow band data link that is used with on-board processing.
Many known missile detection systems sense infrared radiation in a single band. This band contains information about the missile as well as unwanted background. Another approach uses two discrete radiometers to cover two detection bands which are independently processed. Either approach suffers from problems when a strong background signal approximates or exceeds the missile within the detected band or bands. Hence, they are subject to a large number of false alarm indications when a detection threshold is set too close to the background clutter or to undesirably lower detection rates if the threshold is set too high.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome one or more of these problems.

Missile surveillance method and apparatus


The invention relates to an engine mount for mounting an engine on a frame of an agricultural or industrial utility vehicle. The frame has two spaced apart frame elements. Further components of the utility vehicle, such as a gearbox and/or a vehicle axle, can be attached to the frame elements. An outer portion of an engine housing forms a mounting structure through which the engine is mounted on the frame elements, so that no external forces are applied to the engine or to the engine housing. The engine is mounted on the two frame elements using only the mounting structure.

Engine suspension systems or engine mounting systems have been known in the prior art for a long time. For example, it is customary to mount an engine with vibration isolation or fixedly or rigidly on a load-bearing chassis of the vehicle. Such a chassis usually includes a left-hand frame half and a right-hand frame half which are connected to each other by a plurality of connecting elements. The frame structure is therefore rigid with respect to flexing and torsion. If the engine is mounted on the frame with vibration isolation, no external forces are generally applied to the engine.
Alternatively, what is referred to as a block design is known, which is generally used in high-performance tractors. Here, the engine is mounted as a load-bearing element between a front axle or a front axle supporting block and a gearbox or gearbox frame. In such an arrangement, the engine is therefore permanently integrated into the chassis. As a result, external forces which are applied to the engine during locomotion are, in particular, very high when the vehicle is travelling off road and/or is carrying out a task off road. In particular, if a field is being ploughed with a plough which is coupled to the agricultural tractor, the agricultural tractor is subject to large external forces which are also applied to the engine or to the engine housing.


With a constellation of low-earth orbiting satellites, instantaneous photographs of all large cities can be made available in real-time or near real-time. Those photographs can be downloaded to ground stations, and there photographically interpreted to determine traffic conditions. The use of high and low photographic resolution permit making distinctions between different causes of traffic conditions. A color-coded map may be generated showing all major roads and their current status, showing such conditions as light traffic, medium traffic, heavy traffic and traffic accidents or jams, for example. These color-coded maps or color-coded alphabetized lists of streets may be broadcast to subscribers (broadcast stations, companies or individuals). From the color-coded traffic report, the subscribers are updated about which routes to avoid and what the best detours are around the more congested areas.

A significant portion of broadcast station programming (radio and television) may be devoted for reporting on traffic conditions. In larger cities, traffic reports are broadcast frequently throughout each day of the week. As much as ten percent of a typical morning radio station programming may be devoted to traffic reporting. Some broadcast stations use traffic reporting to distinguish themselves from other broadcast stations as a way to lure listeners or viewers.
Broadcast stations currently get their information from either a central traffic clearinghouse and/or flying aircraft. The aircraft are either fixed-wing planes or helicopters that fly over particular regions of a city. There are at least two problems inherent in traffic clearinghouses and aircraft reporting. First, clearinghouses and aircraft reporting only provide traffic conditions for selected highways and streets of a city. Thus, some streets or portions of a street having heavy traffic demand may go unnoticed by the aircraft and may not be reported because of the limited broadcast time available for traffic reports. Second, aircraft traffic reports become stale more often because it may not be updated frequently enough to provide a more accurate picture of the current traffic conditions. Stale traffic reports may result in drivers entering areas experiencing heavy traffic occurring in streets and intersections not covered by the aircraft or clearinghouses. These highly congested streets could be avoided if there was some way of notifying drivers of a better route. Accordingly, there is a significant need for a system and method that would supply current traffic conditions on some or all streets including highways within a city.

Satellite traffic reporting system and methods


In its many embodiments, the present invention provides a novel class of pyrazolo[1,5-a] pyrimidine compounds as inhibitors of protein and/or checkpoint kinases, methods of preparing such compounds, pharmaceutical compositions including one or more such compounds, methods of preparing pharmaceutical formulations including one or more such compounds, and methods of treatment, prevention, inhibition, or amelioration of one or more diseases associated with the protein or checkpoint kinases using such compounds or pharmaceutical compositions. An illustrative compound is shown below:

Protein kinases are a family of enzymes that catalyze phosphorylation of proteins, in particular the hydroxyl group of specific tyrosine, serine, or threonine residues in proteins. Protein kinases are pivotal in the regulation of a wide variety of cellular processes, including metabolism, cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and cell survival. Uncontrolled proliferation is a hallmark of cancer cells, and can be manifested by a deregulation of the cell division cycle in one of two ways—making stimulatory genes hyperactive or inhibitory genes inactive. Protein kinase inhibitors, regulators or modulators alter the function of kinases such as cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK/ERK), glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3beta), Chk kinases, AKT kinases and the like. Examples of protein kinase inhibitors are described in WO02/22610 A1 and by Y. Mettey et al in J. Med. Chem., (2003) 46 222-236.
The cyclin-dependent kinases are serine/threonine protein kinases, which are the driving force behind the cell cycle and cell proliferation. Misregulation of CDK function occurs with high frequency in many important solid tumors. Individual CDK's, such as, CDK1, CDK2, CDK3, CDK4, CDK5, CDK6 and CDK7, CDK8 and the like, perform distinct roles in cell cycle progression and can be classified as either G1, S, or G2M phase enzymes. CDK2 and CDK4 are of particular interest because their activities are frequently misregulated in a wide variety of human cancers. CDK2 activity is required for progression through G1 to the S phase of the cell cycle, and CDK2 is one of the key components of the G1 checkpoint. Checkpoints serve to maintain the proper sequence of cell cycle events and allow the cell to respond to insults or to proliferative signals, while the loss of proper checkpoint control in cancer cells contributes to tumorgenesis. The CDK2 pathway influences tumorgenesis at the level of tumor suppressor function (e.g. p52, RB, and p27) and oncogene activation (cyclin E). Many reports have demonstrated that both the coactivator, cyclin E, and the inhibitor, p27, of CDK2 are either over- or underexpressed, respectively, in breast, colon, nonsmall cell lung, gastric, prostate, bladder, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, ovarian, and other cancers. Their altered expression has been shown to correlate with increased CDK2 activity levels and poor overall survival. This observation makes CDK2 and its regulatory pathways compelling targets for the development of cancer treatments.
A number of adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) competitive small organic molecules as well as peptides have been reported in the literature as CDK inhibitors for the potential treatment of cancers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,974, col. 1, line 23-col. 15, line 10 offers a good description of the various CDKs and their relationship to various types of cancer. Flavopiridol (shown below) is a nonselective CDK inhibitor that is currently undergoing human clinical trials, A. M. Sanderowicz et al., J. Clin. Oncol. (1998) 16, 2986-2999.
Other known inhibitors of CDKs include, for example, olomoucine (J. Vesely et al, Eur. J. Biochem., (1994) 224, 771-786) and roscovitine (I. Meijer et al, Eur. J. Biochem., (1997) 243, 527-536). U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,305 describes certain pyrazolo[3,4-b] pyridine compounds as CDK inhibitors. An illustrative compound from the '305 patent is:
K. S. Kim et al, J. Med. Chem. 45 (2002) 3905-3927 and WO 02/10162 disclose certain aminothiazole compounds as CDK inhibitors.
Pyrazolopyrimidines are known. For example, WO92/18504, WO02/50079, WO95/35298, WO02/40485, EP94304104.6, EP0628559 (equivalent to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,602,136, 5,602,137 and 5,571,813), U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,790, Chem. Pharm. Bull., (1999) 47 928, J. Med. Chem., (1977) 20, 296, J. Med. Chem., (1976) 19 517 and Chem. Pharm. Bull., (1962) 10 620 disclose various pyrazolopyrimidines. Other publications of interest include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,688,949 and 6,313,124, WO 98/54093, WO 03/101993, WO 03/091256, WO 04/089,416 and DE 10/223,917.
Another series of protein kinases are those that play an important role as a checkpoint in cell cycle progression. Checkpoints prevent cell cycle progression at inappropriate times, such as in response to DNA damage, and maintain the metabolic balance of cells while the cell is arrested, and in some instances can induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) when the requirements of the checkpoint have not been met. Checkpoint control can occur in the G1 phase (prior to DNA synthesis) and in G2, prior to entry into mitosis.
One series of checkpoints monitors the integrity of the genome and, upon sensing DNA damage, these "DNA damage checkpoints" block cell cycle progression in G.sub.1 & G.sub.2 phases, and slow progression through S phase. This action enables DNA repair processes to complete their tasks before replication of the genome and subsequent separation of this genetic material into new daughter cells takes place. Inactivation of CHK1 has been shown to transduce signals from the DNA-damage sensory complex to inhibit activation of the cyclin B/Cdc2 kinase, which promotes mitotic entry, and abrogate G.sub.2 arrest induced by DNA damage inflicted by either anticancer agents or endogenous DNA damage, as well as result in preferential killing of the resulting checkpoint defective cells. See, e.g., Peng et al., Science, 277, 1501-1505 (1997); Sanchez et al., Science, 277, 1497-1501 (1997), Nurse, Cell, 91, 865-867 (1997); Weinert, Science, 277, 1450-1451 (1997); Walworth et al., Nature, 363, 368-371 (1993); and Al-Khodairy et al., Molec. Biol. Cell., 5, 147-160 (1994).
Selective manipulation of checkpoint control in cancer cells could afford broad utilization in cancer chemotherapeutic and radiotherapy regimens and may, in addition, offer a common hallmark of human cancer "genomic instability" to be exploited as the selective basis for the destruction of cancer cells. A number of factors place CHK1 as a pivotal target in DNA-damage checkpoint control. The elucidation of inhibitors of this and functionally related kinases such as CDS1/CHK2, a kinase recently discovered to cooperate with CHK1 in regulating S phase progression (see Zeng et al., Nature, 395, 507-510 (1998); Matsuoka, Science, 282, 1893-1897 (1998)), could provide valuable new therapeutic entities for the treatment of cancer.
Another group of kinases are the tyrosine kinases. Tyrosine kinases can be of the receptor type (having extracellular, transmembrane and intracellular domains) or the non-receptor type (being wholly intracellular). Receptor-type tyrosine kinases are comprised of a large number of transmembrane receptors with diverse biological activity. In fact, about 20 different subfamilies of receptor-type tyrosine kinases have been identified. One tyrosine kinase subfamily, designated the HER subfamily, is comprised of EGFR (HER1), HER2, HER3 and HER4. Ligands of this subfamily of receptors identified so far include epithelial growth factor, TGF-alpha, amphiregulin, HB-EGF, betacellulin and heregulin. Another subfamily of these receptor-type tyrosine kinases is the insulin subfamily, which includes INS-R, IGF-IR, IR, and IR-R. The PDGF subfamily includes the PDGF-alpha and beta receptors, CSFIR, c-kit and FLK-II. The FLK family is comprised of the kinase insert domain receptor (KDR), fetal liver kinase-1(FLK-1), fetal liver kinase-4 (FLK-4) and the fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (flt-1). For detailed discussion of the receptor-type tyrosine kinases, see Plowman et al., DN&P 7(6): 334-339, 1994.
At least one of the non-receptor protein tyrosine kinases, namely, LCK, is believed to mediate the transduction in T-cells of a signal from the interaction of a cell-surface protein (Cd4) with a cross-linked anti-Cd4 antibody. A more detailed discussion of non-receptor tyrosine kinases is provided in Bolen, Oncogene, 8, 2025-2031 (1993). The non-receptor type of tyrosine kinases is also comprised of numerous subfamilies, including Src, Frk, Btk, Csk, Abl, Zap70, Fes/Fps, Fak, Jak, Ack, and LIMK. Each of these subfamilies is further sub-divided into varying receptors. For example, the Src subfamily is one of the largest and includes Src, Yes, Fyn, Lyn, Lck, Blk, Hck, Fgr, and Yrk. The Src subfamily of enzymes has been linked to oncogenesis. For a more detailed discussion of the non-receptor type of tyrosine kinases, see Bolen, Oncogene, 8:2025-2031 (1993).
In addition to its role in cell-cycle control, protein kinases also play a crucial role in angiogenesis, which is the mechanism by which new capillaries are formed from existing vessels. When required, the vascular system has the potential to generate new capillary networks in order to maintain the proper functioning of tissues and organs. In the adult, however, angiogenesis is fairly limited, occurring only in the process of wound healing and neovascularization of the endometrium during menstruation. On the other hand, unwanted angiogenesis is a hallmark of several diseases, such as retinopathies, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, age-related macular degeneration, and cancer (solid tumors). Protein kinases which have been shown to be involved in the angiogenic process include three members of the growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase family; VEGF-R2 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, also known as KDR (kinase insert domain receptor) and as FLK 1); FGF-R (fibroblast growth factor receptor); and TEK (also known as Tie-2).
VEGF-R2, which is expressed only on endothelial cells, binds the potent angiogenic growth factor VEGF and mediates the subsequent signal transduction through activation of its intracellular kinase activity. Thus, it is expected that direct inhibition of the kinase activity of VEGF-R2 will result in the reduction of angiogenesis even in the presence of exogenous VEGF (see Strawn et al, Cancer Research, 56, 3540-3545 (1996)), as has been shown with mutants of VEGF-R2 which fail to mediate signal transduction. Millauer et al, Cancer Research, 56, 1615-1620 (1996). Furthermore, VEGF-R2 appears to have no function in the adult beyond that of mediating the angiogenic activity of VEGF. Therefore, a selective inhibitor of the kinase activity of VEGF-R2 would be expected to exhibit little toxicity.
Similarly, FGFR binds the angiogenic growth factors aFGF and bFGF and mediates subsequent intracellular signal transduction. Recently, it has been suggested that growth factors such as bFGF may play a critical role in inducing angiogenesis in solid tumors that have reached a certain size. Yoshiji et al., Cancer Research, 57, 3924-3928 (1997). Unlike VEGF-R2, however, FGF-R is expressed in a number of different cell types throughout the body and may or may not play important roles in other normal physiological processes in the adult. Nonetheless, systemic administration of a small molecule inhibitor of the kinase activity of FGF-R has been reported to block bFGF-induced angiogenesis in mice without apparent toxicity. Mohammad et al., EMBO Journal, 17, 5996-5904 (1998).
TEK (also known as Tie-2) is another receptor tyrosine kinase expressed only on endothelial cells which has been shown to play a role in angiogenesis. The binding of the factor angiopoietin-1 results in autophosphorylation of the kinase domain of TEK and results in a signal transduction process which appears to mediate the interaction of endothelial cells with peri-endothelial support cells, thereby facilitating the maturation of newly formed blood vessels. The factor angiopoietin-2, on the other hand, appears to antagonize the action of angiopoietin-1 on TEK and disrupts angiogenesis. Maisonpierre et al., Science, 277, 55-60 (1997).
Pim-1 is a small serine/threonine kinase. Elevated expression levels of Pim-1 have been detected in lymphoid and myeloid malignancies, and recently Pim-1 was identified as a prognostic marker in prostate cancer. K. Peltola, "Signaling in Cancer: Pim-1 Kinase and its Partners", Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, Sarja-Ser. D Osa-Tom. 616, (Aug. 30, 2005), http://kirjasto.utu.fi/julkaisupalvelut/annaalit/2004/D616.html. Pim-1 acts as a cell survival factor and may prevent apoptosis in malignant cells. K. Petersen Shay et al., Molecular Cancer Research 3:170-181 (2005).
There is a need for effective inhibitors of protein kinases in order to treat or prevent disease states associated with abnormal cell proliferation. Moreover, it is desirable for kinase inhibitors to possess both high affinity for the target kinase as well as high selectivity versus other protein kinases. Small-molecule compounds that may be readily synthesized and are potent inhibitors of cell proliferation are those, for example, that are inhibitors of one or more protein kinases, such as CHK1, CHK2, Pim-1, VEGF, CDKs or CDK/cyclin complexes and both receptor and non-receptor tyrosine kinases.

Substituted pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines as protein kinase inhibitors


A method for producing on the surface of a nickel- or cobalt-based superalloy article a spallation-resistant aluminum oxide layer. An aluminum oxide layer is produced, typically under tensile stress, by chemical vapor deposition at low temperatures on a metal aluminide layer that has been deposited on the surface of the article whereby nickel or cobalt from the superalloy surface reacts with an aluminum compound to form the metal aluminide layer. The aluminum oxide layer under tensile stress is then heated to induce cracking therein, which imparts spallation resistance thereto. If desired, a thermal barrier layer may be deposited on the aluminum oxide layer.

High performance superalloys, such as nickel- or cobalt-based superalloys, are being increasingly employed in various types of gas turbine engines used, for example, in the propulsion and power generation industries. High pressure components (e.g., airfoils) of high performance and high fuel efficiency turbine engines generally have a hollow core made of nickel- or cobalt-based superalloy and these components are subjected to corrosive exhaust gases at extremely high temperatures of up to 1150.degree. C. during the operation of a gas turbine engine. As a result, these components are prone to oxidation damage. Various solutions have been tried to prevent such oxidation damage.
One means typically employed is to provide the components with an environmentally resistant coating typically provided by an aluminum-rich alloy, such as aluminide, whose surface oxidizes to form an aluminum oxide (alumina) scale at elevated temperatures. Such a scale provides a tough, adherent layer that is highly resistant to oxidation and corrosion attack. However, one of the major problems faced by these environmentally resistant coatings is the spallation of the alumina layer thus formed. Upon subsequent cooling of the turbine blade, the thermal mismatch in the coefficients of thermal expansion of the underlying superalloy substrate and the alumina layer disposed thereon leads to an enormous compressive stress on the alumina layer. Thus, when the alumina layer is repeatedly subjected to such intense thermal cycles, spallation of the alumina layer frequently occurs. This in turn triggers regeneration of alumina when the underlying exposed aluminide layer is oxidized by the air at high temperatures produced during the normal working cycle of a gas turbine engine. This regeneration process depletes available aluminum from the underlying aluminide layer disposed on the surface of the substrate, ultimately limiting the life of the coated component. Furthermore, when a thermal barrier coating is applied on the alumina layer, any spallation of the underlying alumina layer results in loss of the overlying thermal barrier coating with grave consequences. Therefore, creating a spallation-resistant alumina layer is critical.
One example of such a spallation-resistant alumina interfacial layer is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,614 where a high purity alumina interfacial layer is provided between the metallic substrate and the ceramic thermal barrier coating.

Method for producing spallation-resistant protective layer on high performance alloys


The present invention aims to provide a method for surface-modifying a rubber vulcanizate or a thermoplastic elastomer, which is capable of cost-effectively imparting a variety of functions, such as sliding properties and biocompatibility, according to the applications. The present invention relates to a surface modification method for surface-modifying an object of a rubber vulcanizate or a thermoplastic elastomer, the method including: step 1 of forming polymerization initiation points A on a surface of the object; step 2 of radically polymerizing a non-functional monomer, starting from the polymerization initiation points A, to grow non-functional polymer chains; step 3 of forming polymerization initiation points B on the surface of the object where the non-functional polymer chains are formed; and step 4 of radically polymerizing a functional monomer, starting from the polymerization initiation points B, to grow functional polymer chains.

In view of the importance of sealing properties, elastic bodies (e.g., rubber) are used for parts that slide while maintaining their sealing performance, for example, a gasket which is integrated with a syringe plunger and forms a seal between the plunger and barrel. Such elastic bodies, however, have a slight problem with the sliding properties (see Patent Literature 1). Thus, a sliding property improving agent (e.g., silicone oil) is applied to the sliding surface; however, a concern has been raised over the potential adverse effects of silicone oil on recently marketed bio-preparations. Meanwhile, gaskets which are not coated with any sliding property improving agents have poor sliding properties, and thus do not allow plungers to be smoothly pushed, causing them to pulsate during administration. Hence, some problems occur such as an inaccurate injection amount and infliction of pain on patients.
In order to simultaneously satisfy these conflicting requirements, that is, sealing properties and sliding properties, a technique of coating with a self-lubricating PTFE film is proposed (see Patent Literature 2). PTFE films, however, are generally expensive and increase the production cost of processed products. Thus, the range of applications of the films is limited. Also, products coated with PTFE films might not be reliable when they are used in applications in which sliding or the like motion is repeated and durability is thereby required. Another problem is that since PTFE is sensitive to radiation, it cannot be sterilized by radiation.
Consideration may also be given to the use in other applications where sliding properties are required in the presence of water. Specifically, water can be delivered without a loss by reducing the fluid resistance of the inner surface of a pre-filled syringe or of the inner surface of a pipe or tube for delivering water, or by making the contact angle with water large or greatly small. Also, drainage of water on wet roads and of snow on snowy roads can be improved by reducing the fluid resistance of the groove surface of tires, or by making the contact angle with water large or greatly small. This results in enhanced grip performance and improved hydroplaning performance, leading to better safety. In addition, less adhesion of wastes and dusts can be expected when the sliding resistance of the sidewall surfaces of tires or walls of buildings is reduced, or when their contact angle with water is increased.
Further advantageous effects can be expected, such as: less pressure loss when water, an aqueous solution or the like is delivered through a diaphragm such as a diaphragm pump or valve; easy sliding of skis or snowboards achieved by enhancing the sliding properties of the sliding surfaces thereof; better noticeability of road signs or signboards achieved by enhancing the sliding properties thereof to allow snow to slide easily on the surface; reduction in water resistance or drag on the outer peripheries of ships and therefore less adhesion of bacteria on the outer peripheries, achieved by reducing the sliding resistance of the outer peripheries or by increasing the contact angle with water; and reduction in water resistance or drag of swimsuits achieved by improving the sliding properties of the thread surfaces thereof.

Surface modification method and surface-modified elastic body


To provide a mower with which a mowing cord can be kept in an appropriate protruding state, in a mower in which a mowing cord 11 of resin is wound on a rotating body 1, the rotating body 1 is provided with a winding member 3 on which the mowing cord 11 is wound, the winding member 3 has a first peripheral concave groove 38 and a second peripheral concave groove 39 on which the mowing cord 11 is wound, and a winding portion 11d of the mowing cord 11 is wound as to be aligned from an inner side in a diameter direction to an outer side within each of the first peripheral concave groove 38 and the second peripheral concave groove 39.

Conventionally, in a mower, in which a resin mowing cord is wound on a rotating body that rotates around a vertical axis, the rotating body is provided with an upper lid member and a winding member on which the mowing cord is wound, and the upper lid member has a cylindrical contact shaft portion to which the mowing cord drawn out by centrifugal force is hitched.


A semiconductor package including a flexible multichip module having multiple chips on flexible appendages with the flexible appendages folded so that the semiconductor chips are arranged in aligned and stacked positions.

A variety of semiconductor packages are known to those skilled in the art. Kondo, U.S. Pat. No. 6,469,903 states that it discloses a semiconductor device, including the flexible printed circuit having a first area part located in the center thereof, a second area part is provided continuous thereto, a third area part is provided continuous to the first part, and a wiring pattern formed on the surface of the above-described flexible circuit. A semiconductor element is mounted on a surface of the second part, and a second semiconductor element mounted on a surface of the third part. The second part is folded to a face side of a center part and a third part is folded to a rear side of the second part. However, Kondo teaches using a spacer in between chips that prevent the chips from engaging each other to provide group-packaging alignment. Therefore, in that disclosure, the physical implementation of packaging three chips requires three separate spacers, and each spacer require a bottom and top spot glassy epoxy to stick together.
Tesser, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,815 state that it discloses a three-dimensional package having a footprint size reduced by an approximate factor of four when compared to conventional electronic packaging. The module disclosed has a protective covering, such as a cap or sealant, as a moisture barrier. Thus, high integration using flexible appendages attach to a rigid substrate and singularly folded above the substrate results in both a small footprint package and also a light package. A reel-to-reel flexible tape assembly provides pretested flex boards resulting in cost effective manufacturable package for semiconductor components. The disclosure teaches placing a microprocessor on the rigid substrate portion and semiconductor die on a flexible appendage, and the flexible appendage is folded over so that the semiconductor die overlap the microprocessor.
Nakatsuka, U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,521 discloses a semiconductor package having a central base portion with a semiconductor element mounted on the base portion and four flexible appendages extending from the base portion. Semiconductor elements are also attached on each of the flexible appendages and the flexible appendages are folded over so that they overlie the semiconductor element on the central base portion. An adhesive layer is provided to insulate the semiconductor element on the central base portion from the semiconductor element attached to one of the flexible appendages.

Flexible multi-chip module and method of making the same


It is disclosed a method for transmitting wireless frame, including: the wireless frame is transmitted by using any access category. The wireless frame is a beginning frame for performing channel information measurement. It is further disclosed an apparatus for transmitting wireless frame, including: a selection unit and a transmitting unit, where the selection unit is configured to select any access category for a beginning frame for performing the channel information measurement; and the transmitting unit is configured to transmit the beginning frame. It is further disclosed a communication network element provided with the apparatus for transmitting wireless frame mentioned above. It is ensured that the wireless frames subsequent to the frame exchange sequence for performing the channel information measurement may be smoothly transmitted, and the channel information measurement may be smoothly performed, and thereby transmitting communication data based on the acquired channel information. The support of each communication network elements to the MIMO and beam forming is further ensured, and an effective supplement to the existing protocols is provided.

At present, with the rapid development of the Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) in the field of the wireless networks, demands for WLAN coverage have been ever increasing, and meanwhile throughput has been more demanding than ever before. In the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) industrial standard IEEE802.11 task group, a series of standard WLAN techniques such as 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g are defined successively. Then other task groups emerging successively devote themselves to developing the standard involving an improvement on the existing 802.11 techniques. For example, a 802.11n task group puts forwards a requirement on High Throughput (HT) which supports a data rate of up to 600 Mbps, and a 802.11ac task group further puts forwards a Very High Throughput (VHT) concept by which the data rate is enhanced to 1 Gbps by introducing a greater channel bandwidth.
In the 802.11 task groups, a Basic Service Set (BSS) is composed of an Access Point (AP) and multiple Stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The 802.11 task groups define two operating modes: a Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) and a Point Coordination Function (PCF) and improvements for these two operating modes: an Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) and a Hybrid Coordination function controlled Channel Access (HCCA), where both the DCF and the EDCA allow the multiple stations to share a wireless channel by employing Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA). The difference between the above two operating modes is that: the EDCA is applied to a frame transmission with a Quality of Service (QoS) requirement, while the HCCA is applied to a frame transmission without a QoS requirement. Four Access Categories (ACs) are specified in a wireless local area network, i.e., AC_VO, AC_VI, AC_BE and AC_BK. A User Priority (UP) of a MAC Service Data Unit (MSDU) has a mapping relationship with the four ACs, and each AC corresponds to a group of EDCA parameter set. In this way, a wireless frame with a certain priority requirement employs a parameter set of the AC corresponding to the UP to contend for a channel to acquire a Transmission Opportunity (TXOP). The basic process that the access categories with different priorities acquire TXOP is that: when a channel is idle, the access categories each use different backoff intervals and any contention backoff window to access the channel to reduce the collision.
In an existing art, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) is introduced to improve transmission performance of the WLAN. In order to enable the data to be transmitted reliably and effectively, a transmitting party needs to measure channel conditions of one or more receiving parties, and configure transmission parameters based on the measured channel information.
In the existing art, when the wireless frame is transmitted between the AP and the STA, a multi-antenna and beam forming techniques may be employed. For example, the AP, when performing downstream MIMO transmission, may inform the STA to perform channel measurement and to feed a measured result back to the AP. The AP calculates a steering matrix based on the measured result, thus optimizing reception of the receiving parties. Generally, the transmitting party that uses the steering matrix is referred to as a beamformer, and the receiving party is referred to as a beamformee. FIG. 1 is flow chart illustrating a processing of channel information feedback. As shown in FIG. 1, the feedback process of channel information between the beamformer and the beamformee is that: the beamformer transmits a Null Data Packet Announcement (NDPA) frame used for informing the beamformee to perform the channel measurement, and waits for a Short Interframe Space (SIFS) to transmit a Null Data Packet (NDP) after transmitting the NDPA. Information on one or more beamformees to be performed the channel measurement is carried in the NDPA frame. The beginning beamformee in the NDPA waits for the SIFS to reply a VHT Compressed Beamforming frame after receiving the NDP frame. If information on more beamformees is carried in the NDPA, then other beamformees feed back the VHT Compressed Beamforming frame after receiving a Sounding Poll from the beamformer.
The existing art provides that the Access Category of AC_VO needs to be used when a management frame is transmitted; when a Request To Send (RTS) or a Clear To Send (CTS) is used as a beginning frame of a frame exchange sequence, the RTS or CTS should follow the Access Category which is used by subsequent data in the same exchange sequence. However, when the channel information measurement is introduced, there is no provision in the existing art which Access Category should be used by an announcement frame (e.g., the NDPA) for the channel information measurement. This undoubtedly results in an inconvenience for transmitting the wireless frame used for the channel information measurement, and when serious, this may result in that the data cannot be transmitted since the channel information cannot be known.

Method and apparatus for transmitting wireless frame, and communication network element


An aftertreatment system for treating constituents of an exhaust gas produced by an engine includes a heater configured to selectively heat the exhaust gas entering the aftertreatment system. An aftertreatment component is disposed downstream of the heater. A gas sensor is disposed downstream of the heater and upstream of the aftertreatment component. The gas sensor comprises a sensing element, and a heating element configured to selectively heat the sensing element to an operating temperature of the sensing element.

Exhaust aftertreatment systems are used to receive and treat exhaust gas generated by engines such as IC engines. Conventional exhaust gas aftertreatment systems include any of several different components to reduce the levels of harmful exhaust emissions present in exhaust gas. For example, certain exhaust aftertreatment systems for diesel-powered IC engines includes a SCR system formulated to convert NOx (NO and NO2 in some fraction) into harmless nitrogen gas (N2) and water vapor (H2O) in the presence of ammonia (NH3). Measuring an amount of constituents of the exhaust gases, such as NOx gases and/or ammonia, is desirable for efficient insertion of reductant in aftertreatment systems, as well as to ensure that the aftertreatment system meets emission requirements. Gas sensors are generally used to measure amount of various constituents of a gas. For example, NOx sensors are used to measure an amount or level of NOx gases in the exhaust gas entering and/or exiting the aftertreatment system. Such gas sensors generally include a sensing element and a heating elements, such as a ceramic sensing element and a ceramic heating element enclosed in a housing. Under cold environmental conditions, water can condense on the sensing element and the heating element in the form of droplets. Turning ON or activating the gas sensor before the condensed water has evaporated can lead to cracking of the sensing element and the heating element due to thermal stress.

Aftertreatment system with gas sensor downstream of a heater


Disclosed is a novel orthopedic device for opening a patient's nasal airway.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an orthopedic appliance for controlled loading of the maxillas, more particularly to a nasal airway device which can be used to shape and/or open nasal airways.
2. Related Art
The art illustrates that there is an interrelationship between airway obstruction and abnormal dentofacial development.
Patients with chronic interference with nasal airflow, Panorax's, A-P's, P-A's and CAT scans commonly show misshapen posterior end of the inferior turbonates, deviated sepia, and distorted sinuses. Some patients are "obligatory" mouth-breathers; others report persistent unilateral nasal airway, and a few have postnasal drip. The patients usually relate histories of chronic or recurrent sinus problems. Nasal surgery alone is unlikely to produce optimum results if relationships of bony structures are abnormal. Dental orthopedics can give improvement, if not a solution to all these airway problems and can be adjusted to the exact requirements of each patient until ideal results are achieved.


A document image capture method and scanner, and an image processing apparatus incorporating such a scanner, in which a document is scanned two or more times. The first scan preferably provides bi-level image data, which is analyzed to identify blocks of uniform image type (for example, text, line drawing, grayscale image, or full-color image) within the document. The second scan, preferably performed at lower resolution than the first, provides grayscale or color information, which is substituted in the grayscale or color blocks, respectively, for the bi-level information obtained in the first scan. A third scan, to provide information of the third type, may also be performed. An operator preferably views an image of the document, based on the scanned information, to be sure that the identification and typing of the various blocks has been done correctly, and may instruct that the document be rescanned to provide new data for a designated portion of the document image, if it appears that an error has occurred. The information representing the document image obtained in this way is preferably stored using a set of linked bit maps, one bit map for each block. The memory capacity needed to store the information can be reduced further by treating the page and its margins as a frame, and by storing information about the frame, and any horizontal or vertical lines in the document, in simple vector form. Any portion of the document which is just background is not stored.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to document image acquisition, and particularly to ensuring that the acquired image data will be of high quality and a resolution suitable for the content of the image, even if the image contains text together with halftone (grayscale levels) or color image, or both.
2. Description of the Related Art
As increasingly larger storage devices have become available, it has become possible to store a document not simply as ASCII text but also as a full facsimile image of the document. More specifically, it is now commonplace to convert a document into a computer-readable bit map image of the document and to store the bit map image. Accordingly, whereas ASCII text storage permitted storage and display of only text portions of documents, it is now possible to store a document in computer readable form and to display not only the text but also pictures, line art, graphs, tables and other non-text objects in the document, as well as to show the text in the actual font and style used in the original document. Likewise, it is possible to store and display documents such that text attributes, such as size, position, etc., are preserved.
FIG. 3 shows a page of a representative document. In FIG. 3, a document page 40 is arranged in a two-column format. The page includes title blocks 41, 42, 47 which include text information of large font size suitable for titles, text blocks 43, 44, 48, which include lines of text data, graphics blocks 45, 46 which include graphic images which are not text (in this example, they are a line drawing and a full-color image), a table block 49 which includes a table of text or numerical information, and a caption block 50 which includes small text data and which is a caption associated with blocks of graphic or tabular information.
Despite the technical advances mentioned above, however, it is still difficult to store document images in computer memory efficiently, because of the large amount of information required for even one page. For example, at 300 dots-per-inch resolution, an ordinary 81/2 by 11 inch black and white document requires approximately 8.4 million bits to store a full document image (assuming that only one bit is used per dot, which is possible with monochrome text and line drawings, but not with images containing grayscale image or color image portions). Adding grayscale image or color to the document, or increasing the resolution at which the image is stored, can easily increase storage requirements to many tens of millions of bits per page. Moreover, the time required to retrieve those bits from storage and to create and display the resulting image is significant, even with current high speed computing equipment. The time is lengthened even further in situations where the document image is retrieved from storage in a first computer and electronically transmitted, by modem, for example, to a second computer for display on the second computer.
It has been conventional to scan a document combining black and white text with color image or grayscale image, or both, in a PC-based document management system using only a black and white (bi-level) scanner. Many disadvantages are attendant upon this approach, however.
First, scanning a color or grayscale image in black and white scanning mode not only loses all the hue information of a color original and the gradations in density of both color and grayscale images, but in many cases results in a mere conglomeration of black blobs. Text and line drawings scanned in a grayscale or color mode, on the other hand, become very blurry, and characters scanned in that fashion are not legible to optical character recognition processing ("OCR processing").
Moreover, even color scanning a grayscale image often produces unacceptable results. Although a color scanner should pick up the densities in a grayscale image well, inadequacies in the scanner may result in some "tint tainting" of the grayscale image data. That is, although the grayscale image is made up entirely of black, white and shades of gray and so has no chrominance or hue, the scanner may erroneously detect a slight hue in the grayscale image. This is because the color scanner cannot directly detect a gray value as such, but can only detect three predetermined primary colors, typically red, green and blue. When scanning an achromatic point, such as a point that is pure black, white or gray, the color scanner should detect exactly equal values for these three color components. In practice, however, slightly different values for the three color components may be detected, due to scanner inadequacies. Upon display or reproduction, the point will have a slight hue instead of being achromatic as it should be.
Thus, using one type of scanning for an entire document that includes color, grayscale or both, in addition to text, is not a viable approach.
Also, with document images (as opposed to text documents created locally in ASCII code using a word-processing program to begin with), it has been proposed to subject text portions of a document image to optical character recognition processing and to store the character information so obtained in ASCII form, greatly reducing the amount of storage required for the text portions. This technique, however, does not preserve any information regarding the type font used in the original document, and obviously is not applicable to non-textual portions of a document, or even to textual portions which are not in a font recognizable by the particular OCR process being employed.
The growing importance of desktop publishing in the business world only makes the problems described above more urgent. This technique has come to depend more and more heavily on scanning as a way to capture material, that is, of entering text, color images and grayscale images into a form usable in a desktop publishing system.

Method for capturing a document image, a scanner using the method and a document image management system using the scanner


The present invention relates to a broad-band wave absorber wherein beams (3) formed of a ferrite magnetic material are placed at an optimal spacing and are aligned in a lattice form in longitudinal and lateral directions on a conductive plate (2). A magnetic substance of a specific thickness t.sub.m is formed into cylindrical blocks of a height d (where d.gtoreq.t.sub.m) wherein an end surface thereof is polygonal, and the cylindrical blocks are provided with a radio-wave reflecting surface aligned in such a manner that this surface is perpendicular to the axial direction of the blocks, and the end surface of the blocks is approximately perpendicular to a direction from which radio waves are incident. The ferrite magnetic substance could also be formed into rectangular prisms of thickness 2t.sub.m, height d, and length in the longitudinal direction thereof L, with the prisms aligned at a spacing b on a radio-wave reflecting surface, the direction of the height dimension of the prisms being approximately parallel to a radiowave incidence direction, and the surfaces thereof of the dimensions 2t.sub.m and L being perpendicular to the radiowave incidence direction, forming a plane parallel to a magnetic field direction of incident radio waves and the dimension L, wherein the following relationships hold: EQU L.gtoreq.d.gtoreq. 2t.sub.m EQU 20t.sub.m .gtoreq.b.gtoreq. 2.sub.tm

1. Field of Application
The present invention relates to a wave absorber constructed using a ferrite magnetic material, and, in particular, to a broad-band wave absorber in which ferrite blocks are arranged at a specific spacing on a conductive plate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Much research has been performed on conventional wave absorbers that use ferrite, so much so that their capabilities are becoming well-known.
The construction of the wave absorber that has become a conventional standard is such that ferrite tiles (plates) are arranged on a conductive plate, as shown in FIG. 17.
For unidirectional-polarization use, a variation has been proposed (in U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,704) in which some of the ferrite plates are removed in a regular pattern in an electric field direction to leave portions where the conductive plate is exposed (called vacant portions), as shown in FIG. 18.
In general, if such vacant portions are provided, characteristics the same as those of the structure of FIG. 17 can be obtained by making the thickness of the ferrite in the ferrite parts greater than that of the ferrite of FIG. 17, but the bandwidth characteristics cannot be expected to be improved thereby. (Problem to be Solved by the Present Invention)
To widen the bandwidth, it is needed to provide some other technologies.


A flywheel assembly is described which is suitable for use as a compact power storage device. The assembly comprises a housing, a flywheel coupled to a shaft which is rotatably mounted in the housing via bearings, a primary chamber which is defined within the housing and contains the flywheel, and a secondary chamber which is defined within the housing and contains the bearings. Furthermore, it includes a molecular pump driven by the shaft for pumping gas molecules from the primary chamber to the secondary chamber. Location of the bearings in a high pressure chamber inhibits off-gassing from the bearing grease. Furthermore, any such off-gassing under load will not increase the gas pressure in the first chamber containing the flywheel as it is separate from the secondary chamber containing the bearings.

Flywheels are increasingly being used as compact power storage devices, particularly in vehicles. The flywheel is mounted in a housing, the interior of which is maintained at low pressure to minimise drag on the flywheel as it rotates. Whilst this low pressure environment can readily be achieved before sealing the housing, fibre composite materials are often used in the construction of high energy density flywheels which emit gases long after fabrication, making it difficult to maintain the desired near vacuum conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,402 describes a flywheel energy storage system including a flywheel disposed within a first chamber. A second chamber is provided which maintains a relatively high pressure. A shaft is suspended between a first bearing located in the first chamber and a second bearing in the second chamber. A molecular pump is driven by the shaft to pump gas molecules from the first chamber to the second chamber to maintain a low pressure environment in the first chamber.


A fuel tank for a straddle-type vehicle includes a two-piece structure made up of a lower panel and an upper panel, each panel having a flange which is formed at a side peripheral edge thereof and joined with the other flange to form the fuel tank, and side portions provided with tank side covers each having a specified vertical width to cover the flanges. The fuel tank is located in a manner such that the upper panel is exposed upward at an upper surface portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for disposing a fuel tank for a straddle-type vehicle such as a motorcycle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional fuel tank for a motorcycle has a tank outer plate and a tank bottom plate which are seam-welded together, and a projecting fuel cock formed on the tank bottom plate. The fuel tank at the side of seam-welding portions is integrally formed with extended members projecting downward below the fuel cock. The extended members are provided with mounting portions of a front cowling and a side cover.
When the fuel tank is removed from the body and placed on the ground or the like without using any jigs or the like, the extended members of the seam-welding portions function as the legs of the fuel tank so that the fuel cock can be protected. In addition, the extended members can also be used for mounting and supporting the front cowling and the side cover.
Another conventional fuel tank is mounted on a motorcycle having a pair of main frames which extend to the rear of the body from a head pipe. The fuel tank has a configuration such that it is at least partially interposed between the pair of main frames and divided into an upper and a lower part, and the mating faces of the upper and the lower parts are positioned in the vicinity of the upper edges of the main frames. Further, a protection member is fitted on the mating faces.
However, in the former conventional fuel tank, the seam-welding portions of the tank outer plate and the tank bottom plate hang there and are integrally formed with the extended members projecting downward below the fuel cock. The extended members are formed with the mounting portions of the front cowling and the side cover. Thus, it is difficult to form the seam-welding portions on the tank outer plate and the tank bottom plate, respectively, with good accuracy by press forming. Also, when the tank bottom plate and the tank outer plate are seam-welded together with the seam-welding portions aligned with each other, the tank bottom plate must be fitted in the tank outer plate in position. However, when the tank outer plate and the tank bottom plate are not formed with a high degree accuracy, an optimum fit cannot be provided, or even when both plates are successfully fitted together, a gap may occur between the seam-welding portions resulting in a problem of difficulty in forming.
Further, in the latter conventional fuel tank, the protection member is fitted on the mating faces projecting from the side of the fuel tank which is divided into an upper and a lower part. The protection member prevents the fuel tank from being in surface contact with the main frame so that no vibration is directly transmitted from the body to the fuel tank. The protection member also prevents the flanges of the fuel tank from directly interfering with rider's legs when he/she rides on the vehicle. The protection member, however, only provides such functions, and attaching the protection member does not necessarily provide a good appearance.
In view of the foregoing, it is, therefore, an advantage of the present invention to provide a fuel tank capable of being easily formed and to provide a structure for disposing a fuel tank for a straddle-type vehicle capable of improving quality in appearance of a portion where the fuel tank is disposed.

Structure for disposing fuel tank for straddle-type vehicle


An IC card of an embodiment is provided with a receiver to receive a first command transmitted from an external device, a determining processor to determine whether or not the first command is a switching request command to request switching the IC card from a passive mode to an active mode, a switching processor to switch oneself from the passive mode to the active mode, when the first command is the switching request command, an identification information acquiring processor to acquire identification information of other IC card existing in a communicable range of the external device from the switching request command, a command generating processor to generate a second command which includes the identification information acquired by the identification information acquiring processor so as to make the other IC card execute processing, and a command transmitter to transmit the second command to the other IC card.

Generally, an IC card used as a portable electronic device is provided with a card shaped main body formed of plastic or the like, and an IC module embedded in the main body. The IC module has an IC (Integrated Circuit) chip. The IC chip has a nonvolatile memory which can hold data in the state without power source, such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) and a flash ROM (Read Only Memory), a CPU (Central Processing Unit) to execute various operations, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) used for the processing of the CPU, and so on.
An IC card can perform transmission of data and reception of data by contactless communication. The IC card to perform contactless communication is provided with an IC chip and an antenna. The IC card receives magnetic field outputted from a reader/writer of an IC card processing device which processes the IC card through the antenna within the IC card, and operates by electric power induced by electromagnetic induction. In addition, when the IC card receives a command from the IC card processing device by contactless communication, the IC card executes an application in accordance with the received command. By this means, the IC card can realize various functions.
Conventionally, an IC card processing device performs as an active device which transmits a command to an IC card. In addition, the IC card performs as a passive device which performs processing in accordance with the received command. But, recently, an IC card which performs as an active device has been desired.
But, when other IC card further exists within a communicable range of the IC card, the IC card which has switched to an active device requires to perform collision avoiding processing (anticollision) and initial setting so as to detect the IC card within the communicable range. For the reason, there is a problem that the processing time increases.

IC card, portable electronic device, and reader/writer


A downhole filter comprises a tubular member having a wall defining a plurality of openings. The openings have an outer width less than an inner width. The parts of the opening defining the smaller width are defined by radially outer parts of the openings, such that particulates or sand prevented from passing through the openings will tend to be retained to the outside of the tubular member.

It is generally desirable that fluids extracted from downhole formations, such as oil and gas produced from hydrocarbon-bearing formations, are substantially free from particulates, or sand. The presence of sand in the production fluid can lead to blockages, premature wear and damage to valves, pumps and the like. Produced sand which has been separated from the produced fluid at surface requires storage and disposal, which can be difficult and expensive, particularly in offshore operations. Furthermore, unchecked production of sand from a formation can result in substantial damage to the formation itself.
Perhaps the most common means for restricting sand production involves the provision of a mechanical sand control device, installed downhole, that causes the sand to bridge or filters the produced liquids or gases. These devices come in many forms, including slotted liners and wire-wrapped screens. The simplest slotted liner is made of oilfield pipe that has been longitudinally slotted with a precision saw or mill. Such liner is relatively inexpensive, and is accordingly preferred for wells having long completion intervals, but does not have high-inlet-flow areas, and may therefore be unsuitable for high-rate wells. Wire-wrapped screens consist of keystone-shaped corrosion-resistant wire wrapped around a drilled or slotted mandrel, the wire being spaced from the mandrel by longitudinal ribs to allow for maximum flow through the screen.
Other sand control devices comprise a filter sheet sandwiched between a perforated base pipe and a perforated outer shroud. By providing the filter sheet in the form of a plurality of overlapping leaves, and providing a diametrically expandable base pipe and outer shroud, it is possible to provide an expandable sand control device, such as is sold under the ESS trade mark by the applicant. In this particular arrangement, overlapping leaves of non-expanding apertured metal filter sheet are sandwiched between a slotted expandable base pipe and a slotted expandable protective shroud. Each leaf is attached to the base pipe along an axially extending weld, and the free edges of the leaves then overlapped to provide an iris-like arrangement. On expansion of the filter, the leaves of filter sheet slide over one another, the circumferential extent of each leaf being selected such that a degree of overlap remains in the expanded configuration, such that there is a continuous wrapping of filter sheet.
While such expandable filter arrangements have been used successfully on many occasions, manufacture of the arrangements is relatively difficult and expensive, and the location and relative movement of the filter sheets during the expansion process introduces a risk of the filter sheets tearing.
Embodiments of the various aspects of the present invention provide alternative sand control devices.


In an embodiment, a system includes a processor including at least one core to execute operations of a loop that includes S stages. The system also includes stage insertion means for adding a delay stage to the loop to increase a lifetime of a corresponding register associated with a first variable of the loop and to delay storage of contents of the register. The system also includes a dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Software pipelining is a compiler technique that can increase throughput of a computationally-intensive loop by overlapping execution of multiple iterations of the loop. In overlapped multiple iterations, some iterations may be speculative due to a reversal of order of operations, e.g., the order of execution of the operations may differ from an execution order indicated in the loop. An exception that occurs during a speculative iteration can invalidate the result of the iteration. One technique to correct the invalid result is to discard all previous results of the loop iterations and start the loop calculation again ("roll-back"), which can be costly in terms of computational resources and time.

Dynamic optimization of pipelined software


This invention provides a nano composite porous electrode material that has high charge-discharge behavior and charge or discharge capacity and a manufacturing method thereof. It also provides a lithium-ion secondary battery using this nano composite porous electrode material. The nano composite porous electrode material according to this invention has a porous structure such that nano-size pores are three-dimensionally connected with each other wherein walls of the pores thereof are composed of olivine type LiMnPO4 and carbon, a specific surface area Sa is 55 m2g−1<Sa<248 m2g−1, an amount of contained carbon Cc is 15.5 wt %<Cc<28 wt % and a diameter of crystallite is less than 39 nm. This enables a high charge-discharge capacity and a fast charge or discharge behavior to be obtained.

Since a lithium-ion secondary battery has a high energy density, it has widely utilized as power source for small-sized electronic equipment such as a portable phone or a notebook computer. It has been recently desired to allow the battery to realize a larger capacity and a higher power output in order to apply it to a power source for electric auto vehicle. Although LiCoO2 is mainly used as positive electrode materials for a currently used lithium-ion secondary battery, it has problems such that cobalt (Co) is extremely expensive and has a very high toxicity. Therefore, a new material has been recently developed to aim at a positive electrode using no cobalt.
In the development of the new positive electrode material, an attention is riveted to any olivine type compound LiMPO4 (M is Fe or Mn) composed of Fe and/or Mn which is (are) electrochemically stable and resources of which are rich. It, however, has an electronic conductivity of about 10-9 Scm−1, which is low, and has also a diffusion velocity of Li ion in a crystal of 10−14 through 10-16 cm2S−1, which is excessively late, unless it is treated. Thus, it has such an excessively poor rate performance and a problem so that it is difficult to obtain a sufficient output or capacity.
Regarding LiFePO4, recently, it has been clearly shown that its performance can be improved by means of nano-sizing method, carbon composition method or the like, which causes its application to be desired. Further, a patent document 1 discloses positive electrode materials in which in olivine type LiFePO4, its conductivity is improved by changing a part of Fe to Ti and which realizes larger capacity and higher rate performance by processing them as fine particles.
On the other hand, LiMnPO4 has a discharge potential of 4V (vs. Li/Li+) which is desired to have higher energy density and higher output than those of LiFeO4 that has a discharge potential of 3.4V (vs. Li/Li+) . Since LiMnPO4, however, has been inferior to LiFeO4 in electronic conductivity or diffusion of Li ion, its sufficient performance has not yet shown under the existing circumstances.

Composite nano porous electrode material, process for production thereof, and lithium ion secondary battery


The differential includes a differential housing (7A, 7B). A torque transmission member (5A, 5B) is supported to a differential housing (7A, 7B) for rotating relative to the differential housing. A clutch system (13A, 13B) is configured to interconnect between the torque transmission member (5A, 5B) and the differential housing (7A, 7B) for transmitting a drive torque therebetween.

The invention relates to a differential and a differential system adapted for a four-wheel drive vehicle and, more specifically, to ones adapted for a vehicle mutually switchable between four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive.
Conventionally, a drive force transmission with a differential of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publications No. 3-118233 and NO. 3-292437 are known.
The drive force transmission is located to a rear wheel drive system in a four-wheel drive system. The transmission has a differential with a rotatable differential housing. The transmission includes a ring gear member for the transmission of a drive force to the casing.


The invention relates to a pressure booster arrangement for high-pressure injection systems or high-pressure injection system parts of internal combustion engines. A differential piston which operates with a large cross section in a medium-pressure reservoir and with partial cross sections is operative in terms of positive displacement in associated control and work pressure chambers that are separate from the medium-pressure reservoir and that are disposed in a guide body. The guide body guides the differential piston in its strokes and in turn axially adjoins a valve body. The valve body receives control and check valves for controlling communicating lines of the guide body and of the valve body for controllably connecting the control and work chambers to the medium-pressure reservoir or to a relatively pressureless fluid reservoir. It is essential to the invention that the valve body and the guide body separate from it, which at least on its end remote from the valve body is acted upon by the pressure in the medium-pressure reservoir, adjoin one another axially with end faces facing toward one another. Between these end faces, a spacer chamber or hollow chamber communicating with the relatively pressureless reservoir is embodied.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a pressure booster arrangement for high-pressure injection systems or high-pressure injection system pads of internal combustion engines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One such pressure booster arrangement is the subject of the earlier German Patent Application 10 2007 021 326.5, not published before the priority date of the present application, and has a differential piston that operates with a large cross section in a medium-pressure reservoir, connected to the compression side of a pump that communicates on one side with a relatively pressureless fluid reservoir, and that is operative with partial cross sections for positive displacement in associated control and work chambers, which are separate from the medium-pressure reservoir and are disposed in a guide body that guides the differential piston in its strokes and in turn axially adjoins a valve body, and the valve body receives control and check valves for controlling communicating lines of the guide body and valve body for controllably connecting the control and work chambers with the medium-pressure reservoir or with the relatively pressureless fluid reservoir.
In operation of the pressure booster arrangement, fluid is forced into he medium-pressure reservoir by means of the pump; as a consequence, the differential piston is retracted, counter to the force of a restoring spring assembly, from a stop disposed in the medium-pressure reservoir and executes a working stroke, in which fluid is expelled from the control and work chambers and forced into a connected high-pressure storage system or into the relatively pressureless reservoir that during the working stroke is connected to the control chamber side. For the ensuing reverse stroke of the differential piston, the work and control chambers communicate with the medium-pressure reservoir, so that the restoring spring assembly returns the differential piston to the outset position again, and the fluid positively displaced by the differential piston in the medium-pressure reservoir in this reverse stroke is forced into the work and control chambers.
The guide body and the valve body have a comparatively complicated structure and should therefore be capable of being manufactured separately from one another. However, if the valve body and guide body are produced as separate segments from one another in a built guide body and valve body, it is necessary for lines of the control body and of the guide body, which lines communicate with one another at the parting plane between the segments, to be sealed off on the sides of these bodies oriented toward one another. Since the corresponding seals must at least in pat be proof against extremely high pressure and are furthermore acted upon by highly varying pressures, in other words pressure pulsations, in accordance with the succession of working and reverse strokes of the differential piston, these seals must be disposed with high sealing pressure. A further difficulty is that upon tensing of the axially joining bodies against one another that is adequate for attaining the sealing pressures, relative motions between sealing faces resting on one another parallel to the parting plane between the bodies must be prevented from occurring. It is true that the axially adjoining bodies fundamentally pin one another or in some other way are coupled together by positive engagement, in such a way that in the region of their parting plane they are hindered from relative motions parallel to the parting plane. However, if the tensing of the axially adjoining bodies is effected by the bodies of set screws embracing them, then the aforementioned pinning or positive engagement must be disproportionately large or strong, so that a satisfactory construction cannot be attained.


An image processing apparatus includes an inputting unit for inputting moving image data that is composed of frames each including first and second fields and that is encoded by intra-frame and inter-frame encoding; an instructing unit for submitting a request for outputting a still image; a still image generating unit for generating still image data including first encoded data and second encoded data, each of these encoded data having a prediction error of zero with respect to a reference image; a multiplexing unit for selecting to output either the still image data generated by the still image generating unit or the moving image data input by the inputting unit; a controlling unit for controlling the multiplexing unit so as to select the still image data generated by the still image generating unit; and a transmitting unit for transmitting the image data output from the multiplexing unit in an encoded state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses, and in particular, to processing of encoded image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Apparatuses having the following functions are disclosed: encoding moving image data in an encoding format, such as, the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) format, recording encoded image data on recording media, such as optical disks, and playing it back.
In some cases, image data encoded in this way is read from recording media and transmitted through digital transmission lines, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers 1394 (IEEE1394) interface.
For transmitting image data read in this way, a technique is disclosed (for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-220694), in which when a request for playing back a still image is submitted, still image data generated with skipped macroblocks having no prediction error with respect to a reference image is inserted into moving image data and transmitted.
In the related art described above, still image data having no difference with respect to a reference frame is inserted and transmitted. In general television systems, such as the National Television System Committee (NTSC) system, an image of one frame is interlaced with images of two fields. When a reference image frame inserted as a still image has an object of shooting that sharply moves during the interval between two fields, a decoded image is disadvantageously blurred.


A method of round-trip engineering source code from a software model, and in particular a method of forward engineering code previously reverse engineered into a software model whereby to generate updated source code without any changes to the code not changed in the model, and without using obtrusive code markers in the source code. Elements from the original source code represented by the model are placed in a meta-model, and compared to a similar meta-model of the software model. Appropriate changes and additions are made in the source code to elements which have been changed in the software model. The rest of the code in the software model remains untouched.

The present invention relates to software design modeling, and in particular to round-trip software engineering in which a software application is reverse engineered into a software model, the software model can be changed, and the code represented by the software model can then be re-coded.
Due to inadequate software design modeling, application development projects have typically been very difficult to deliver with any kind of consistent success. A very low percentage of significant application development projects are completed on time and within budget. As projects have grown larger in scope, organizations have begun to partition applications and corresponding subsystems into multiple tiers, with each tier being developed and maintained independently of the others. This enables applications to scale up to the enterprise level. As more complex 3rd generation language projects are developed, a corresponding need for formal analysis and design modeling has increased. Accordingly, in order to combine various disjoint applications into a single large scale solution, existing applications need to be visualized and understood, without recourse to digging through the source code. Furthermore, projects need to be re-engineered using component-based development techniques to take advantage of various emerging object technologies such as CORBA, Microsoft ActiveX (OCX) and the World Wide Web.
The first step required involves adding object-oriented analysis and design to the existing development process. As software needs become increasingly complex, an environment is needed to complement the third generation lifecycle with an object-oriented analysis and design front end, enabling the application writer to take advantage of reusable components and track the development of the project. Many modeling products have been developed for this purpose, such as Platinum Technology, Inc.""s Paradigm Plus. The challenge in such products is to keep the design information synchronized with the code.
As represented in FIG. 1, the capability is required to keep a software model 2 up to date with changing source code 4, allowing the generation of easily understood diagrammatic representations of the software design. This capability has been included in most, if not all, object modeling tools. Without this feature, a software model must be manually updated whenever changes are made in the design as the source code is written. This often leads to forgotten updates to the software model and a software model that is out of date with respect to the source code that it is intended to represent.
As shown in the Venn Diagram in FIG. 2, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that the software model generally only represents a subset of the information represented in the source code, and a large amount of meta-data concerning the project which is stored in the software model is not represented in the source code. For example, neither comments in the source code nor properties of objects relating to their formatting will generally be incorporated in the software model. Design principles and relationships between objects in the modeling methodology being used which are represented in the software model, will not be included explicitly in the source code.
Several tools in the industry have added a round-trip engineering technology which can read the source code and synchronize the software model with the source code. However, these tools rely on being able to place markers into the source code 4 to define areas of the code which correspond to the software model 2. These markers clutter the source code with extraneous marks, causing readability problems. In addition, this technique is prone to error when one of the markers is deleted or inadvertently edited by the developer.
What is required is a method of round-trip engineering allowing a software model to be kept synchronized with corresponding source code or equivalent objects, without the need for code markers cluttering up the code.
The present invention provides a system for keeping a software model representing a software application in synchronization with the source code it represents without the need for any kind of source code markers delimiting parts of the code which are to be synchronized with the software model. The code in the software application is analyzed, and a software model of the aspects of the application which can be incorporated in the software model is generated. The software model is then used to regenerate the source code represented by the software model, and any of the source code which is not represented in the software model is merged into the generated source code from the original code.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the remaining portion of this specification.

Method and apparatus for round-trip software engineering


A check valve including a housing formed by a base portion and a cap portion positioned in telescoping relation with each other. A disc shaped valve member is positioned within the housing and is defined by opposing first and second planar sides. The valve member includes a spherical portion located centrally thereon and which is captured between first and second valve supports supported on the base portion and cap portion, respectively. The valve supports hold the valve member in engagement with a valve seat, and the valve member moves out of engagement with the valve seat in response to a fluid pressure applied at a fluid inlet in the base portion to permit forward fluid flow while preventing fluid flow in the reverse direction.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a flow regulation apparatus and, more particularly, to a check valve which will open at very low pressures to permit fluid flow in a first direction and which will close to prevent flow in a second direction with extremely low back flow leakage while withstanding high back pressures, and which is not sensitive to the position or orientation of the valve.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One requirement of one way flow or check valves, such as the type used in medical fluid flow lines, is that the valves offer little resistance to fluid flow in one direction and stop fluid flow in the opposite direction with low back flow leakage. A valve which is commonly used for this purpose is a duckbill valve which comprises a pair of valve lips which readily open at low forward flow pressures and which readily close to prevent back flow in an opposite direction. While this type of valve provides an effective mechanism for controlling fluid flow, they typically cannot withstand high back pressure if they are designed for low opening and forward pressure. Also, the assembly of duckbill valves into a housing typically requires care to ensure that the valve is properly oriented and aligned relative to the ends and sides of the housing in order ensure effective operation.
Another form of known check valve uses a disc shaped regulator element which is generally required to be centered within a housing. Reliable operation of the regulator element in such valves is sensitive to the precise centering of the regulator element within the valve housing and, in addition to requiring care in properly placing the regulator element in the valve housing during assembly, prior art regulators have been subject to misalignment by slipping off center during use, leading to unacceptable leakages of the valve. In addition, some disc valve designs are position sensitive and consequently also subject to failure or leakage.
While known check valves of the above described type and other check valve designs provide satisfactory operation for many applications, there is a continuing need for a check valve which reliably responds to permit fluid flow at low pressures, as well as preventing back flow with extremely low leakage of fluid, and which is of a simplified construction permitting ease of assembly, including automated assembly of the valve structure.


A new and distinct cultivar of Brachycome plant named ‘Magenta Magic’, characterized by its compact, low spreading and mounding plant habit; freely branching growth habit; dark green-colored stems and leaves; freely flowering habit; large inflorescences positioned above the foliar plane; bright purple-colored ray florets; and good postproduction longevity.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Brachycome plant, botanically known as Brachycome angustifolia and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Magenta Magic'.
The new Brachycome plant is a product of a controlled breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact Brachycome plants with large inflorescences and strong foliage.
The new Brachycome plant originated from a cross-pollination in Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia, of a proprietary selection of Brachycome angustifolia identified as code name OBAP176, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Brachycome angustifolia identified as code name OB04547, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Brachycome plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor in July, 2006 as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Asexual reproduction of the new Brachycome plant by stem cuttings in a controlled environment in Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia since September, 2006, has shown that the unique features of this new Brachycome plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A vehicle includes a driving source, a shutter device, and a controller. The driving source is configured to generate a driving force. The shutter device is configured to adjust an amount of air for cooling the driving source. The controller is configured to control the driving source and is configured to restrict an operation of the driving source based on a temperature of the driving source when a failure of the shutter device is detected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle, more specifically, the vehicle provided with a grille shutter.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle that has an openable and closable shutter mechanism (hereinafter also referred to as "grille shutter") on an air intake path for cooling a drive device of a vehicle is known. In such a vehicle, a grille shutter is used to adjust cooling performance of the drive device by adjusting an opening thereof or to reduce an air resistance of a vehicle by closing a shutter during high-speed travel.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-197001 (JP 2012-197001 A) discloses a configuration in which when a failure (malfunction) of a grille shutter occurs in a vehicle with a grille shutter, occurrence of the failure is informed to a user.
When a failure occurs in an operation of the grille shutter and an opening of the grille shutter cannot sufficiently be secured, due to a decrease in an external air flow, a drive device such as an engine cannot sufficiently be cooled and may result in overheating or failure or degradation of a device.
In the configuration disclosed in JP 2012-197001 A, in the case where a failure of the grille shutter occurs, occurrence of the failure of the grille shutter can rapidly be informed to a user. Accordingly, even during a failure of the grill shutter, overheating or failure of the device can be prevented.


A power transmission switching device includes a power shaft that is rotationally driven, a power transmission unit that is displaced between first and second positions positioned in an axial direction of the power shaft, a first positioning member that positions the power transmission unit in the first position, and a second positioning member that positions the power transmission unit in the second position. Any one or both of the switching of the connection and non-connection between the power shaft and the power transmission unit and the switching of the connection and non-connection between the power transmission unit and a driven part using the power shaft as a power source are performed by the switching of the position of the power transmission unit. The power transmission unit has at least one middle position between the first and second positions, and is held in the middle position by a holding unit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a power transmission switching device that switches the transmission and non-transmission of rotational torque from a power shaft rotationally driven by a motor or the like to a driven part using the power shaft as a driving source. Further, the present invention relates to a recording apparatus that is provided with the power transmission switching device.
2. Related Art
An ink jet printer, which is an example of a recording apparatus, will be exemplified below. The ink jet printer includes a plurality of objects to be driven, such as a feeding device that feeds a paper sheet, a roller that transports the paper sheet, a carriage on which a recording head is mounted, and a pump device that sucks ink from the recording head. However, if a dedicated drive motor is provided to each of the objects to be driven, cost is significantly increased. Accordingly, a switching mechanism, which selectively switches the object driven by the motor, is provided in order to drive the plurality of objects by one motor.
The switching mechanism switches the object to be driven by the switching of a gear train, and a carriage disclosed in JP-A-11-227179 or JP-A-2001-162887 is used for the switching of the gear train.
According to the switching mechanism in the related art, if a carriage is moved to the switching mechanism (home area), the switching mechanism is unlocked, so that the switching of the object to be driven can be performed. If the carriage is moved to the switching mechanism returns to a printing area from the switching mechanism (home area) the switching mechanism is locked. Accordingly, a state where power is transmitted to a specific object to be driven is fixed.
Meanwhile, if a rotating shaft of a transport roller transporting a paper sheet is used as a power shaft and power is transmitted to a switching mechanism from the power shaft, power is not transmitted to the objects to be driven (for example, a feeding device and the like) and only the power shaft (transport roller) may be intended to be rotated like, for example, when a paper jam is treated.
However, according to the switching mechanism in the related art, the carriage needs to be always held at the switching mechanism (home area) not to transmit power to the object to be driven. Accordingly, degree of freedom deteriorates in the operation of a carriage.

Power transmission switching device and recording apparatus


An arrangement for measuring a current with a Rogowski type current transducer and transducer electronics. The current transducer has a primary conductor winding for carrying the rated current to be measured, and a secondary conductor winding. The secondary conductor winding adapted to induce a voltage signal VS′ between a pair of second terminals. The current transducer having a third conductor winding adapted to receive a calibration current signal. The voltage signal VS′ contains a coil sensitivity S and is a superposition of a rated current voltage signal and an additional calibration signal. The transducer electronics being adapted to amplify both the current voltage signal and the calibration signal in the same amplifier and divide the amplified current voltage signal by that part of the amplified calibration signal that contains the coil sensitivity and the gain.

A current transducer of the Rogowski type incorporates a device which is commonly known as a Rogowski Coil. It is widely used as a device for measuring alternating current (AC) or high frequency current pulses. This type of coil has many advantages over other types of current sensors. Known Rogowski coils can be constructed by applying an electrically conductive wire on a non-magnetic and non-conductive carrier. The carrier can be a plastic or glass or ceramic based structure and forms a closed or almost closed loop such that a kind of helical coil wire is formed. The lead from one end of the coil can return through the center of the coil or close to center of the coil to the other end, so that both terminals can be at the same end of the coil and so that the helical coil itself does not form a closed loop.
The Rogowski coil belongs to the category of air-core coils because the carrier of the coil is non-magnetic, e.g., its magnetic susceptibility is significantly smaller than 1. The carrier can be rigid or flexible and its shape can be a ring, torus, or other.
When placed around a primary conductor carrying an electrical current, the Rogowski coil generates a voltage proportional to the derivative of the current according to Ampere's law. The voltage is also proportional to the number of turns per unit length and to the area of the turns. The area of one turn is approximately equal to the cross-sectional area of the coil carrier. Because the voltage induced in the Rogowski coil is proportional to the rate of change of the current in the primary conductor, the output of the coil can be connected to an electronic device, here called transducer electronics or Intelligent Electronic Device (IED), where the signal is integrated and further processed in order to provide an accurate signal that is proportional to the current.
The Rogowski coil has many advantages over other types of current measuring devices, the most notable being the excellent linearity due to its non-magnetic core, which is not prone to saturation effects. Thus, the Rogowski coil is highly linear even when subjected to large currents, such as those used in electric power transmission, welding, or pulsed power applications. Furthermore, because a Rogowski coil has an air core rather than a magnetic core, it has a low inductance and can respond to fast changing currents. A properly formed Rogowski coil, with equally spaced windings, is largely immune to electromagnetic interference. In comparison to known ferromagnetic core based current transducers, a Rogowski coil current transducer (RCCT) exhibits a higher dynamic range, lower weight and size, as well as lower production cost.
However, known Rogowski coil current transducers provide moderate accuracy as compared to high known ferromagnetic core based current transducers, particularly for metering applications. One reason for this is the unknown changes of sensitivity S of Rogowski coils when the environmental conditions can be changing, such as temperature, mechanical constraints, humidity, aging etc. Another reason is the unknown changes of gain in electronic amplifiers being part of the transducer electronics when the environmental conditions can be changing, such as temperature, mechanical constraints, humidity, aging etc.
Because these non-desirable changes of coil sensitivity and of amplifier gain can be currently not taken into account by the electronic signal processing in the IED, such an alteration in the sensitivity and in the gain introduces an error on the measurement. Such a limitation impedes reaching high accuracy with a combination of a Rogowski coil current transducer.
One solution to compensate for sensitivity changes of known Rogowski coil current transducers includes measuring the temperature with a temperature sensor placed closed to the Rogowski coil. The temperature is then used to compensate the sensitivity according to each Rogowski sensitivity temperature profile. During the characterization (e.g., calibration) of the coil performed at the end of production, the Rogowski coil current transducers sensitivity at ambient temperature as well as its temperature dependency can be measured. The coefficients, which give the polynomial correction to apply to the signal in the transducer electronics, can be stored in an EEPROM placed in the sensor casing. This solution allows temperature effect compensation, but specifies additional production effort, such as calibration and temperature characterization of each Rogowski coil current transducer. Furthermore, it does not allow other compensations such as of mechanical, humidity and aging effects. Indeed, the correction coefficients cannot be updated once the sensor is delivered to the customer. In fact, in order to compensate for aging, the known approach can call for a maintenance effort and an interruption of the rated current measurement on the customer plant. The known Rogowski coil current transducer should be extracted from the plant and recalibrated periodically with the same procedure as the initial calibration in the factory.
PCT/EP2011/001941 and PCT/EP2011/058291 propose readout electronic arrangements that compensate themselves (e.g., self-compensate) their own gain drift without interrupting the measurement via an online capability. However, these readout electronics do not allow for the compensation of any RCCT sensitivity variation simultaneously with the measurement of the rated current.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Arrangement for measuring a current with a current transducer of the Rogowski type