A digitally-controlled, DC/DC converter includes at least one switched-mode power stage for the purpose of converting an input voltage (Vin) into an output voltage (Vout); the power stage including at least one controllable switching device, which is turned ON and OFF by a control device with temporal resolution Δt. The converter further includes a duty cycle control mechanism for controlling the duty cycle of the controllable switching device, the duty cycle control mechanism including a mechanism for estimating the output voltage error; a mechanism for estimating the target duty cycle; a duty cycle quantization mechanism for determining, for a target duty cycle estimate, a first set of quantized ON time/OFF time pairs suitable for controlling the switching device; and a selector mechanism for determining the turn ON and turn OFF times of said controllable switching device by choosing, cycle by cycle, an ON time/OFF time pair from a second set of quantized ON time/OFF time pairs, derived from said first set, choosing in such a manner that the amplitude of the output voltage error is continually minimized. To compensate for the load-dependent effects of parasitics, the second set of quantized ON time/OFF time pairs is adjusted continuously, to insure optimum performance at all load levels.

The invention pertains generally to the field of power conversion, and more particularly to digitally-controlled switched-mode DC/DC converters.
A broad class of switched-mode DC/DC power converters exists with the property that the ratio of the average output voltage to the input voltage is determined by the average duty cycle of a controllable switching device within the power conversion stage of the converter. Examples include buck, boost, inverting buck-boost, forward, and flyback converters, operated in the continuous conduction mode (CCM). Where the load on the power converter varies dynamically, or there is a requirement to track changes in load with minimal output voltage error, regulation of these converters is accomplished by continually estimating the output voltage error (the output voltage error being the difference between the uncorrupted output voltage and the desired output voltage) and continually adjusting the duty cycle of the switching device to compensate for changes in load conditions manifest in output voltage error estimates. In this case, the act of regulation consists of controlling, cycle by cycle, the duty cycle of the switching device in accordance with output voltage error estimates, so that the amplitude of the output voltage error is continually minimized.
Regulation mechanisms for this purpose, known as pulse width modulation (PWM) regulators, generally incorporate a pulse width control mechanism and a duty cycle control mechanism, where the former generates the ON pulse appropriate to the realization of the duty cycle generated by the latter. Duty cycle control mechanisms thus incorporate a mechanism for estimating the target duty cycle (the target duty cycle being the duty cycle essential to achieve the desired output voltage). A target duty cycle estimation mechanism is commonly a feedback mechanism, driven by the output voltage error, but it could as well be a feedforward mechanism, driven by the input voltage, or some combination of the two.
The most commonly used pulse width control mechanisms are analog in nature; that is they accept as input a continuously variable analog signal representing the desired duty cycle, and they output pulses of continuously variable width. As in other previously analog fields, continuous advances in integrated circuit technology have stimulated the application of digital techniques to the field of power conversion. As a result, the first digital PWM regulation mechanisms, replacing analog PWM regulators, have been developed and are being commercialized. It is the nature of such mechanisms that the generated pulse widths are quantized—a consequence of the temporal resolution of the digital regulation mechanism. If the temporal resolution of the regulation mechanism is Δt, then the pulse widths are constrained to be integral multiples of Δt. Furthermore, switching cycles, spanning consecutive ON and OFF pulses, are likewise constrained to be integral multiples of Δt.
One challenge to those who would apply digital PWM regulation mechanisms to power converters, especially DC/DC converters employed in battery-powered mobile applications, is the challenge of achieving acceptable application performance with digital regulation mechanisms. Quantization of pulse widths translates into quantized duty cycles, which constrain the ability of any duty cycle control mechanism to limit output voltage ripple to an arbitrary application-dictated level.
To understand the nature of this challenge, consider a DC/DC converter in a battery powered mobile application. The switching frequency is typically set in the neighborhood of 1 MHz, to minimize the size and cost of discrete components and maximize the operating efficiency of the converter. A digital PWM regulation mechanism operating at 16 MHz would thus be able to generate pulses widths of 0, 1/16 usec, 2/16 usec, 3/16 usec . . . 16/16 usec. Assuming a fixed switching frequency, 17 instantaneous duty cycles (including 0 and 1) could be applied. One method for regulating the output voltage would be to alternate between two quantized duty cycles, one smaller than the target duty cycle, and the other larger. In one embodiment of this concept (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 6,677,733), the duty cycle control mechanism examines the current output voltage error estimate, and if it is positive, selects the smaller duty cycle for the next cycle of the switching device. Similarly, if the current output voltage error estimate is negative, it selects the larger duty cycle for the next cycle of the switching device. At its best, however, this duty cycle control mechanism may not be able to limit output voltage ripple to an acceptable level . . . in which case the only obvious recourse for manufacturers of regulators is to improve the temporal resolution of the regulation mechanism . . . i.e., boost the clock frequency.
Even if the ripple is tolerable under static line and load conditions, it may present a challenge to tight regulation under dynamic load conditions, owing to the difficulty in providing accurate output voltage feedback in the presence of increased (though tolerable) ripple. In this case the only obvious recourse to manufacturers of regulators to minimize ripple without penalizing dynamic performance is to boost the clock frequency.
But boosting the clock frequency to mitigate the effects of quantization on output voltage error (static and dynamic) may compromise cost and efficiency metrics. For example, the complexity and, consequently, the cost of the digital regulation mechanism are likely to increase as well as the power dissipation. Moreover, the increased cost and power dissipation will be further multiplied, if the requirement to boost the clock frequency should prevent the integration (at a substrate level) of the digital regulation mechanism with other electronic componentry.
Clearly there is a need for digital control methods that mitigate the requirement for higher clock frequencies solely for the purpose of achieving acceptable output voltage error (static and dynamic) in a broad class of DC/DC converters.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Disclosed is a computer implemented method to annotate electronic maps with historical data, the method comprising: receiving a first query from a user, wherein the first query includes a request for historical data of a mapped area. The method also comprises retrieving a plurality of references, wherein each reference includes a location reference, and each reference is related to the mapped area. The method further comprises normalizing each location reference to a common coordinate system. The method also comprises ranking each of the plurality of references. The method further comprises generating a first result, wherein the first result is responsive to the first query, and the first result is based on the ranking. The method further comprises determining a confidence score for the first result, and returning the first result to the user.

The present disclosure relates to mapping systems, and, more specifically, to enhancing mapping systems with relevant historical data.
Modern geographic mapping services offer a wide variety of information about point locations, territories, and regions whether or not they are legally incorporated. Generally available annotations renderable in mapped areas include street plans, terrain, zoomable satellite views, vehicular traffic, and ground level perspectives.

Historical augmentation of electronic maps

International Business Machines Corporation


Techniques for a service provider network to generate suitability scores that indicate how well VM instance types are performing given the workloads they are running. Using these suitability scores, users are able to easily determine the suitability of VM instance types for supporting their workloads, and diagnose potential issues with the pairings of VM instance types and workloads, such as over-utilization and under-utilization of VM instances. Further, the techniques include training a model to determine VM instance types recommended for supporting workloads. The model may receive utilization data representing resource-usage characteristics of the workload as input, and be trained to output one or more recommended VM instance types that are optimized or suitable to host the workload. Thus, the service provider network may provide users with easily-digestible suitability scores indicating the suitability of VM instance types for workloads along with VM instance types recommended for their workloads.

Service providers offer cloud-based services to fulfill users' computing-service needs without the users having to invest in and maintain computing infrastructure required to implement the services. These service providers maintain networks of managed computing resources and functionality to implement various types of scalable, on-demand services, such as storage services, compute services, database services, networking services, and so forth. The networks of computing resources, or "service provider networks," can include computing systems that are located across multiple, distinct regions and interconnected by a communication network, or a series of communication networks, to exchange data. Specifically, data centers or data processing centers, may include a number of interconnected computing devices (or "servers") to provide computing resources to users of the service provider networks.
To increase the utilization of the computing resources, virtualization technologies may allow a single physical computing device to host multiple virtual computing resources. For example, a single computing device can host multiple instances of virtual machines (VM) (also referred to herein as "virtual machine instances" or "VM instances") that appear and operate as independent physical computing devices for users, but each share or are allocated portions of the computing resources of the single, underlying physical computing device. In this way, rather than having a single user or process underutilize the resources of a physical computing device, multiple users or processes can utilize the resources of the physical computing device to increase resource utilization.
To further increase the utilization of the computing resources, and also to more effectively meet the computing resource needs of users, service provider networks may offer a variety of different types of virtual machines. Specifically, a service provider network may offer a selection of VM instance types that are optimized, or biased, to support different use cases on behalf of users. In such examples, the different VM instance types may be allocated different amounts, and/or different combinations, of the computing resources of underlying physical computing devices to provide users with flexibility to choose a VM instance that is more appropriately optimized to support their computing resource needs.

Determining suitability of computing resources for workloads


A test apparatus is provided. The test apparatus includes: a main memory that stores pattern data including at least one pattern bit defining a test signal provided to each of a plurality of terminals of the device under test; a pattern cache memory that caches the pattern data read from the main memory; a pattern generation control section that reads pattern data from the main memory and writes the same to the pattern cache memory; a pattern generating section that sequentially reads the pattern data stored in each cache entry of the pattern cache memory and outputs the same; and a channel circuit that generates a test signal corresponding to each of the plurality of terminals based on the pattern data outputted from the pattern generating section and provides the same to the device under test.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a test apparatus and an electronic device. Particularly, the present invention relates to a test apparatus that tests a device under test and an electronic device including a test circuit.
2. Related Art
Generally, there may be a case that a test pattern having a predetermined logic pattern is generated and inputted to a device under test in order to test the device under test such as a semiconductor circuit. For example, a test to determine whether the device under test normally operates can be performed by writing a predetermined logic value to a memory region in the device under test and reading the written logic pattern.
A pattern generating section that generates a test pattern based on pattern data and sequence data has been known. The pattern generating section sequentially reads the pattern data and the sequence data stored in the main memory and stores the same in the cache memory.
Here, the following documents have been known as the related art documents of the pattern generating section:    1. International Publication (WO) 2004/109307 brochure    2. International Publication (WO) 1998/23968 brochure    3. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-94724    4. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-78476
As described above, the pattern generating section generates a test pattern based on the data previously stored in the main memory. Therefore, when longer test pattern is generated, larger main memory may be required for the pattern generating section. However, the cost is increased in order to increase a memory capacity. Thus, a method is desired for generating longer test pattern without increasing the memory capacity.
Meanwhile, the speed of transferring data from the main memory to the cache memory often becomes a bottleneck for the operating speed of the pattern generating section. Therefore, even if the same test pattern is generated, it is desired that the amount of transferring data from the main memory to the cache memory is reduced as far as possible.

Test apparatus and electronic device for generating test signal to a device under test


A turbine blade (18) for a gas turbine engine includes a machining datum (60) that extends radially from a pocket (54) in the outer shroud (36) of the blade. The datum is spaced from a sidewall (64) of the pocket so that the datum is peripherally continuous irrespective of whether the blade is in a prefinished state or in a completely finished state. Because the datum's peripheral continuity survives the original manufacturing process, the datum is available for use in post-manufacturing inspection and repair operations.

Gas turbine engines and similar turbomachines have one or more compressors and turbines. The compressors and turbines include longitudinally alternating arrays of blades and vanes that extend radially across an annular flowpath. During operation of the turbomachine, a working medium fluid flows longitudinally through the flowpath. The blades and vanes interact with the working medium fluid to transfer energy from the compressor to the fluid and from the fluid to the turbine.
A typical turbine blade has a root that adapts the blade to be secured to a rotatable hub so that the blade extends radially outwardly from the hub. The blade also includes a platform adjacent to the root, a shroud radially spaced apart from the platform and an airfoil extending between the platform and the shroud. A knife edge extends outwardly from the radially outer surface of the shroud. When a full complement of blades is secured to the hub of a turbomachine to form a blade array, the blade platforms and shrouds define radially inner and outer boundaries of a flowpath for the working medium fluid, and the airfoils extend radially across the flowpath. In addition, the knife edges of the installed blades abut each other to form a substantially circumferentially continuous knife edge ring. The knife edge ring extends radially toward an abradable seal that circumscribes the blade array. Over the course of a brief break-in period early in the life of a newly manufactured turbomachine (or after an engine has been refurbished with a new abradable seal) mechanical deflections and thermally induced dimensional changes cause the knife edge ring to cut a corresponding knife edge groove into the abradable seal. Thereafter, the engine operates with the knife edge ring protruding snugly into the knife edge groove thereby forming a seal that minimizes the leakage of working medium fluid past the blade array.
The turbine blades are made from a high strength, temperature tolerant alloy that is cast to a near net shape. The blade casting is then polished to smooth out any minor irregularities in the airfoil surface and to remove any excess material from the airfoil's leading and trailing edges. The blade platform and shroud are then finish machined to render the blade dimensionally and geometrically suitable for installation and service in the turbomachine.
The finish machining of the platform and shroud is conducted according to a highly automated manufacturing protocol known as "one piece flow". This protocol features a sequence of machines arranged in a logistically optimized flow line in a manufacturing facility. Each machine performs one of several required machining steps, and operates on only one blade at a time. Each blade is transferred from machine to machine in the flow line. In order to guard against the accumulation of machining inaccuracies due to these transfers of the blade from one machine to the next in the machining sequence, the blade has a set of dedicated, highly accurate machining datums.
One of the dedicated datums is a machining projection that extends radially outwardly from the shroud. The projection has a radially inner portion that is recessed in a pocket in the shroud outer surface and blends into a pocket sidewall so that the radially inner portion is peripherally noncontinuous. The projection also has a radially outer portion that extends radially beyond the sidewall and therefore is peripherally continuous. The peripherally continuous outer portion serves not only as a reference point but also as one of a number of interfaces by means of which the blade can be predictably positioned and anchored in place in each of the one piece flow machines.
If such a blade were to be installed in a turbomachine, the outer portion of the projection would cut into the seal that circumscribes the blade array in much the same way that the knife edge ring cuts into the seal. Because the knife edge ring and the projection are separated by only a small distance, and because the hub shifts slightly in the longitudinal direction during engine operation, the cut made by the projection can merge with and expand the width of the knife edge groove. As a result the desired snug fit between the knife edge ring and the knife edge groove is undermined thereby diminishing the effectiveness of the seal and reducing the turbomachine's efficiency. To guard against this occurrence, the outer portion of the projection is machined off, leaving behind only the inner portion, which is too short to contact the seal. The removal of the outer portion also destroys the projection's utility as a datum, and therefore the outer portion is not removed until all the other machining operations are complete and the projection is no longer necessary to facilitate blade manufacture.
Turbine blades, such as those just described, must also undergo post-manufacturing dimensional inspections. The above described machining projection would be an ideal inspection reference point. However since the projection is not available as a reference in the post-manufacturing environment, it is common practice to rely on alternative reference points. These alternative references are two sets of datum triplets on the airfoil, one set near the platform and one near the shroud. These datum triplets are far less accurate than the machining projection, and therefore overly stringent inspection criteria must be established to ensure that all dimensionally unacceptable blades are identified. As a result, some airfoils that are dimensionally acceptable will be identified as unacceptable, and will be scrapped. Given the high cost of turbomachinery blades it is clearly desirable to minimize the likelihood that a serviceable blade is erroneously identified as unacceptable.
A similar difficulty arises when damaged or deteriorated blades are refurbished to extend their serviceability. The absence of the machining projection forces reliance upon less accurate datums, and as a result it may not be possible to realize the full potential of the refurbishment.

Turbomachinery blade or vane with a permanent machining datum


A system and method is provided for reducing partial scan reconstruction artifacts in sinogram data acquired as a series of sets of partial-scan projection views, each set of projection views extending over an angular range of less than 360 degrees. A full-scan sinogram matrix for each of the sets of projection views in the series is created and each set of partial-scan projection views is stored in a respective full-scan sinogram matrix to create an array of full-scan matrices having respective empty spaces not filled by partial-scan projection view data stored therein. The empty spaces are filled in each of the full-scan sinogram matrices using the partial-scan projection view data stored therein and an image of the subject is reconstructed from the full-scan sinogram matrices having the empty spaces filled using the partial-scan projection view data stored therein.

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for medical imaging and, particularly, to systems and methods for reducing partial scan reconstruction artifacts in computed tomography perfusion (CTP).
In a computed tomography ("CT") system, an x-ray source projects a fan-shaped or cone-shaped beam of x-rays that is collimated to lie within an x-y plane of a Cartesian coordinate system, termed the "imaging plane." The x-ray beam passes through the object being imaged, such as a patient, and impinges upon an array of radiation detectors. The intensity of the transmitted radiation is dependent upon the attenuation of the x-ray beam by the object, and each detector produces a separate electrical signal that is a measurement of the beam attenuation. The attenuation measurements from all of the detectors are acquired separately to produce a transmission profile at a particular view angle.
The source and detector array in a conventional CT system are rotated on a gantry within the imaging plane, and around the object so that the angle at which the x-ray beam intersects the object constantly changes. A group of x-ray attenuation measurements from the detector array at a given angle is referred to as a "view," and a "scan" of the object includes a set of views acquired at different angular orientations during one revolution of the x-ray source and detector, thereby giving rise to the term "view angle" as synonymous with "view" or "projection." In a two dimensional (2D) scan, data is processed to reconstruct an image that corresponds to a slice taken through the object. The prevailing method for reconstructing an image from 2D data is referred to in the art as the filtered backprojection technique. This process converts the attenuation measurements from a scan into integers called "CT numbers," or "Hounsfield units," which are used to control the brightness of a corresponding pixel on a display.
Myocardial CTP is important for evaluating the hemodynamic significance of coronary artery disease. The rapid developments in multidetector row CT, particularly its successful adoption for noninvasive cardiac imaging, raise the possibility of obtaining both anatomic and functional information from a single imaging modality. However, from a technical perspective, cardiac CT is challenging due to demands in temporal resolution. Strategies to improve temporal resolution include faster gantry rotation, dual- and multiple-source CT, and partial (or short) scan reconstructions. In myocardial CTP several consecutive partial scans are used to track the transient arrival and washout of intravascular contrast agent. Since myocardial CTP protocols are typically ECG-gated, according to a desired interval within the cardiac cycle (for example, diastolic phase), it is not possible to guarantee that the same angular data range (or view angles) is covered by each consecutive partial scan. As a consequence, artifactual CT number variations over time, called partial scan reconstruction artifacts (PSR artifacts or PSAs), arise due to minor deviations in the projection data due to physical effects, for example, such as scattering and beam hardening.
Solutions proposed to address PSAs include an invasive procedure in which the animal heart is paced in synchrony with the gantry rotation of a CT scanner, thus guaranteeing consistent angular ranges for each partial scan. This results in effective reduction or elimination of artifacts. However, the obvious disadvantage of such an approach is its invasiveness, which precludes its use in humans. More recently, two noninvasive methods to reduce PSAs have been proposed. The first uses a special data acquisition mode in which x-rays are applied to complete a full gantry rotation (full scan with 360 degrees of projection data). Then, based on the ECG signal, a specific phase of the cardiac cycle is selected and both a full and a partial scan are reconstructed. And by the use of convolution operations, a new image dataset containing the low spatial frequencies portion from a full scan (with no PSAs) and high spatial frequencies from a partial scan (free from motion artifact) is obtained. Such an approach is called the "targeted spatial frequency filter" (TSFF), and is currently implemented in the second generation dual source CT scanner (Somatom Definition Flash, Siemens Healthcare). A disadvantage of this approach is an increase in radiation dose (for example, 14%), and potential decreases in temporal resolution compared to a partial scan.
Another approach to PSAs was proposed by Stenner et al. (2010). In this approach, only partial scans from a myocardial CTP sequence are used. In this approach, the raw data of several consecutive partial scans are averaged such that a sinogram containing 360 degrees of projection data (a full scan) is created. This is referred to as the "artificial full scan sinogram." Then, a virtual partial scan sinogram is extracted from the artificial full scan sinogram, by selecting the projection data corresponding to an angular range identical to that of the acquired partial scan sinogram. Then, three image datasets are reconstructed from each corresponding sinogram. The last operation consists in subtracting the virtual scan image from the artificial scan image, leaving as a result the 'artifact' image. Then, the 'artifact image' is substrated from the original partial scan image resulting in a partial scan image free from artifact. Advantages of this method include that it is noninvasive, there is no added radiation dose, and temporal resolution is preserved. A disadvantage is that the method requires several image reconstruction steps (3 instead of 1); hence, computational requirements are increased at least threefold. Another disadvantage is that, in practice, the superposition operations are potentially error prone because of mismatches generated by motion artifacts due to the rapid heart motion, that is, when applying this technique in vivo.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system and method for the reduction or control of PSAs in CTP that is substantially non-invasive, that does not increase radiation dose, that preserves temporal resolution, and that is robust to motion artifacts. Additionally, it would be desirable to have a system and method for PSAs reduction that can be readily applied to existing myocardial CTP protocols available in commercial CT scanners.

System and method for partial scan artifact reduction in myocardial CT perfusion


A frame structure is disclosed. The frame structure comprises a first side frame, a second side frame, a top support frame and a base support frame. The second side frame is substantially parallel to the first side frame, and a circuit board is disposed between the first side frame and the second side frame. The top support frame comprises a support plane for connecting to the first side frame and the second side frame. The base support frame is substantially parallel to the top support frame, and the base support frame comprises a compartment, a first protrusion, and a second protrusion. A power supply unit can be disposed in the compartment. The first protrusion connects to the first side frame, and the second protrusion connects to the second side frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a frame structure and foot stand, and, more particularly, to a frame structure and foot stand for a display device, which can improve the efficiency of assembly and reduce manufacturing costs.
2. Description of the Related Art
With improvements in image processing technologies, traditional cathode ray tube televisions or display devices are being slowly replaced by LCD display devices or plasma display devices. Taking the LCD display device as an example, its flat screen design saves a large amount of space, and as a result, the LCD display device can be placed on a foot stand or hung on a wall to provide convenience in arrangement of space.
In general, during the assembly of the LCD display device, in order to achieve a thin design while including all necessary components, a large number of panel-bearing elements and securing components are required. Furthermore, a foot stand, which is usually secured by screws, must be installed on the LCD display device for various tests. However, the above-mentioned processes induce longer times and higher costs during the assembly of the LCD display device. Also, to meet safety standards, the circuit board and the power supply unit in the LCD display device must be separated by a predetermined distance, but this requirement leads to added length to the entire structure of the display device, increasing the size and the volume of the display device.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a frame structure and a related foot stand for a display device to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Frame structure, support, and display apparatus using the same


A power amplification circuit can include an input impedance matching circuit associated with one or more frequency bands of a plurality of frequency bands. The power amplification circuit can include a transistor with respective input coupled to an output of the input impedance matching circuit. The power amplification circuit can include a plurality of output impedance matching circuits. Each output impedance matching circuit can be associated with a respective frequency band of the plurality of frequency bands. The power amplification circuit can include a single pole multi-throw (SPMT) switch having an input terminal connected to an output of the transistor and a plurality of output terminals. Each output terminal of the SPMT switch can be connected to a corresponding output impedance matching circuit of the plurality of output impedance matching circuits.

Radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers are commonly used in various systems and applications, such as telecommunication systems and devices, antenna and radar systems, media players and audio speakers, among others. RF power amplifiers amplify, or increase, the power of RF signals with minimal signal distortion. RF power amplifiers typically use direct current (DC) power to amplify RF signals.
In designing power amplifier circuits, many factors or parameters are considered, such as gain, bandwidth, power efficiency and input and output impedance matching, among others. The gain represents a measure of power increase in the output signal of a power amplifier compared to the corresponding input signal. The bandwidth represents the frequency band supported by the power amplifier, or the frequency band within which the power amplifier amplifies RF signals with minimal signal distortion. Power efficiency refers to power gain relative to the DC power used. Input and output impedance matching relates to designing the power amplifier circuit to have a predefined input impedance(s) to match the output impedance(s) of a corresponding RF signal source, and a predefined output impedance that matches the input impedance of a device or circuit coupled (or connected) to the output of the power amplifier.
Input and output impedance matching is meant to avoid signal reflection at the input and, respectively, the output of the power amplifier, and therefore, avoid or mitigate power loss. Specifically, mismatch between the input impedance of first circuit and the output impedance of a second circuit that is feeding the first circuit with RF signals leads to partial signal reflection at the connection between both circuits. To avoid or mitigate the signal reflection (or power loss) a power amplifier circuit can be designed to have predefined input and output impedances (e.g., 50 Ohms) that match output and, respectively, input impedances of other circuits or devices that can be connected to the power amplifier. Accordingly, accurate input and output impedance matching can help improve the gain and/or the power efficiency of the power amplifier circuit.

Systems and methods for multi-band power amplifiers


When a turning portion on the front end side of the cover is turned in one direction, a turning-portion engagement part disposed in the turning portion engages with a container main body-side engagement part so as to close the cover. When the turning portion of the cover is turned in the opposite direction, engagement between the turning-portion engagement part and the container main body-side engagement part is released. When the turning portion is kept turned in the opposite direction, a turning-portion opening-operation auxiliary portion disposed in the turning portion abuts on a container main body-side opening-operation auxiliary portion and the cover can be pressed up with a weak force by the principle of the lever.

Conventionally, there is known a cosmetic container referred to as what is called a compact container that houses a powder cosmetic material. In this cosmetic container, in the case where a powder cosmetic material rich in volatility is used, it is necessary to ensure air tightness inside of a container. As a cosmetic container that keeps the air tightness like this, the following container described in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 is known.
The cosmetic container described in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 includes a body container that houses a cosmetic dish filled with a cosmetic material and a cover that is pivotally attached to the back portion of this body container to be openable/closable. An engagement member is pivotally attached to the front portion of the cover to be turnable, and a hook piece that engages with the engagement member is disposed on the front lower surface of the body container. A user can close the cover so as to turns the engagement member to be engaged with the hook piece. This allows firmly and closely fixing the cover to the body container and causes an elastic body for sealing the cover inner surface to be brought into contact with the top surface in the peripheral edge portion of the cosmetic dish, so as to ensure the air tightness of the region (the cosmetic dish) on the inner side of the elastic body.
Additionally, in the above-described cosmetic container, a lever that can release the engagement of the engagement member and the hook piece is pivotally attached to the engagement member to be turnable. The user can pull or push the lever to turn the lever and presses a part of the lever against the body container to turn the engagement member, so as to simply release the engagement of the engagement member and the hook piece by the action of the lever.


Hair treatment agents include selected aminofunctional silicones and a selected cationic keratin hydrolysate.

A need exists to further improve hair care products and to impart further advantageous properties to them. In particular, a care-providing complex should be made available that ideally can be used even in conjunction with oxidizing agents and surfactant agents.
Environmental influences and oxidative hair treatments often result in degraded combability properties of the dry and the wet hair. In addition, the shine and moisture balance are disadvantageously influenced by the fact that the external structure of the keratinic fibers has been attacked. A further consequence of repeated treatments of keratinic fibers using surfactant agents and/or oxidizing agents is considerable grease re-absorption by the keratinic fibers, as well as a strong tendency to increased formation of scalp dandruff.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to decrease the side-effects of environmentally related influences and of oxidative as well as surfactant hair treatments, preferably already during the oxidative or surfactant hair treatment but also after the oxidative or surfactant hair treatment, without degrading the efficiency of oxidative or surfactant cosmetic substances, in particular with regard to color intensity, color fidelity, lightening performance or waving effect, and to prevent grease re-absorption by the keratinic fibers and increased formation of scalp dandruff. In addition, the oxidative treatment of keratin-containing fibers, in particular human hair, is also to be combined in the form of a 2-in-1 product, in one application step, with the application of effective fiber protection from environmental influences, for example UV protection.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Hair care products with selected amino functional silicones and cationic keratin


A system and method related to efficiently searching for an object in a network including a plurality of realms, e.g., a plurality of local area networks (LANs). The method may ensure that nodes within a LAN are able to locate objects within that LAN using only computing resources on the local LAN. Thus, expensive WAN transfers may be avoided where possible. The system may also scale to many nodes. Nodes may not be required to know about every other node in the system. Mechanisms for re-distributing object location information among nodes as nodes are added to and removed from the system are also described.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer networks and, more particularly, to a system and method for efficiently locating an object, e.g., a storage object, in a computer network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer networks are important for many different applications. One important type of networking is referred to as peer-to-peer or P2P networking. As used herein, a peer-to-peer network is generally used to describe a decentralized network of peer nodes where each node may have similar capabilities and/or responsibilities. Participating peer nodes in a P2P network may communicate directly with each other. Work may be done and information may be shared through interaction among the peers. In addition, in a P2P network, a given peer node may be equally capable of serving as either a client or a server for another peer node.
A peer-to-peer network may be created to fulfill some specific need, or it may be created as a general-purpose network. Some P2P networks are created to deliver one type of service and thus typically run one application. For example, Napster was created to enable users to share music files. Other P2P networks are intended as general purpose networks which may support a large variety of applications. Any of various kinds of distributed applications may execute on a P2P network. Exemplary peer-to-peer applications include file sharing, messaging applications, distributed data storage, distributed processing, etc.
Although P2P networks offer certain advantages over conventional client-server architectures, prior P2P networks have suffered from scaling problems. One important obstacle to scaling has been the lack of an efficient search mechanism to locate objects stored on various nodes in the P2P network. It is often necessary for various nodes in a P2P network to locate objects stored on other nodes.
P2P networks can include a plurality of local area networks (LANs) that are joined together by wide area network (WAN) connections. Accesses across a WAN connection are typically expensive and have significantly higher latencies than accesses across a LAN connection. Prior search mechanisms that have been developed for P2P networks have not ensured that nodes within a LAN are able to locate objects within that LAN using only computing resources on the local LAN. Without this assurance, the overall system tends to have very high latencies and squanders limited expensive WAN bandwidth. Also, in large systems with many nodes, scaling would suffer if every node needed to know how to reach every other node in order to locate the various objects.

Efficient search for storage objects in a network


A tubular frame assembly for a door type warewashing machine includes four tubular legs, and two upper cross-braces and two lower cross-braces. The cross-braces are received through cross-brace receiving openings in the tubular legs, and the cross-braces are bolted together within the legs by nut and bolt assemblies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to support frame apparatus for dishwashers, and more particularly to a frame assembly that can be disassembled and repaired in the field.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Door type dishwashers, which may also be referred to as warewashers, require a relatively tall supporting framework which supports a ware rack receiving station at a table top height so that ware racks full of dishes or other table ware may slide laterally from an adjacent work table to the rack receiving station and subsequently from the rack receiving station back to another adjacent work table.
The supporting framework of such door type warewashers is sometimes damaged during transport and/or movement of the warewasher. The damaged framework may make the warewasher unusable and require an entire new framework to be obtained from the factory for replacement, or may require return of the warewasher to the factory for repair.

Frame construction method and frame assembly for dishwasher


A method and an apparatus for controlling an electromagnetic switching member having an excitation winding and a movable armature. A first time point and a second time point define a time window. Within the time window, the current characteristic and/or the voltage characteristic is evaluated in order to detect a switching time point at which the armature reaches a new limit position. The time window is enlarged if no reliable switching time point was detected within the time window.

A method and apparatus for controlling an electromagnetic switching member are known from German Patent No. DE-OS 34 26 799 and from its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,447. There, a method and an apparatus are described for controlling a solenoid valve that controls the fuel quantity to be injected into a diesel internal combustion engine. The solenoid valve comprises an excitation winding and a movable armature. To move the armature, a current and/or a voltage is applied to the excitation winding. Within a time window that is defined by a first value and a second value, the current characteristic and/or the voltage characteristic is evaluated in order to detect the time point at which the armature reaches its new limit position.
The time point at which the armature reaches its new limit position has a great influence on the accuracy of the fuel metering. For this reason, this time point must be reliably detected and distinguished from interference signals. With an excessively large time window, interference signals can be interpreted as the switching time point. With an excessively small time window, the switching time point does not lie within the time window in all operating states.

Method and apparatus for controlling an electromagnetic switching member


An image processing apparatus includes a volatile main memory, a first non-volatile memory for storing a plurality of types of partial snap shot images, a second non-volatile memory from which information can be read faster than from the first non-volatile memory, for storing an entire snap shot image, and a processor. The processor reads a partial snap shot image corresponding to a state after change from the first non-volatile memory and updates a corresponding portion of the entire snap shot image in the second non-volatile memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for quickly starting up an image processing apparatus or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image processing apparatus including a hibernation function for quick start-up has been put into practical use. The hibernation function refers to a function to store in a non-volatile memory, data stored in a volatile main memory before power of the image processing apparatus is turned off and to resume at the time of next power-on, an operation from a state immediately before power-off. By adopting this hibernation function, a time required for starting up an image processing apparatus when power is turned on can advantageously be shortened.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-146061 discloses an information processing apparatus and a method of starting up the same, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-146061 discloses acquisition of information on a mounted non-volatile memory device, measurement of performance of the non-volatile memory device, estimation of a resume time from hibernation using the non-volatile memory device based on the measured performance of the non-volatile memory device, and determination as to whether to use hibernation start-up at the time of next power-on based on the resume time.
In addition, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-038545 discloses a hibernation control method, a hibernation control device, and an image processing apparatus. According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-038545, the image processing apparatus is provided with a print image compression part for compressing a print image, a print image extension part for performing corresponding extension processing, and a memory image storage control part for analyzing whether storage content stored in a main memory is processable by the print image compression part or not to form a compression method table. The memory image storage control part compresses a memory image while switching a CPU compression part and the print image compression part with reference to the compression method table and stores it in an HDD. A memory image recovery control part extends the information read from the HDD while switching a CPU extension part and the print image extension part in conformation to the CPU compression part and the print image compression part used in compression processing, and returns it to the main memory.
Moreover, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-038546 discloses a start-up control method, a start-up control device, and an image processing apparatus. According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-038546, a memory image storage control part stores initial start-up data showing storage content (memory image) in a main memory just after initial start-up according to a conventional procedure or swap data to a hard disc device in initial start-up processing in the hard disc device with the use of a hibernation function. A memory image recovery control part reads back the initial start-up data stored in the hard disc device to the main memory with the use of the hibernation function, thereby starting up the apparatus in the initial state.
In many cases, however, various hardware or software options are added to the image processing apparatus and setting of the hardware or the software is changed. When the setting of the hardware or the software is changed, data to be stored in a volatile main memory changes. Namely, start-up with the use of data that has previously been stored in a non-volatile memory cannot be made. In particular, in an example where a hardware configuration is changed such as addition of a memory while power is off or a software configuration is changed such as installation of a new application program, simply storing data in a volatile memory immediately before power-off cannot adapt to quick start-up.

Image processing apparatus and hibernation start-up method

KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.


A surgical retractor assembly includes a handle and a retractor blade connected to the handle by a connecting pin. The connecting pin has a handle-connecting portion that extends through an aperture in the handle and a blade-connecting portion with spaced-apart flanges separated by a blade engaging portion that engages a slot in the retractor blade.

The present invention relates generally to surgical retractors. More particularly, the present invention relates to a retractor assembly for use with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
During the last two decades MRI has become a popular diagnostic technique because this technique enables details of images to be obtained inside of a human body. Advantages of MRI over other diagnostic techniques are that MRI does not require the use of x-ray radiation. Additionally, for most applications, patients do not need to perform or refrain from performing any activities prior to undergoing a MRI session.
Because of the beneficial features of MRI, MRI has been attempted while performing selected surgical techniques. A drawback of using MRI while performing surgical techniques is that metal objects present in the area where the image is being taken and that have a magnetic susceptibility cause distortion of the image.
During many types of surgical techniques it is desirable to use retractors to retract tissue and thereby enhance the surgeon's ability to perform the surgical technique. Most present surgical retractors are made of stainless steel which is a highly magnetic susceptible metal.

Retractor assembly with connecting pin and method for removably assembling


Apparatus for dispensing individual sheets from the center of a coreless roll product comprised of a plurality of the sheets forming a wound web. A dispenser nozzle is connected to a support for supporting the coreless roll. The dispenser nozzle has interconnecting portions, one of which has a truncated cone-like configuration and the other of which has a cylindrical configuration. The portion of the nozzle having the cylindrical configuration is located at the exit opening of the nozzle to provide increased contact area for sheets passing therethrough to reduce wear and extend the life of the nozzle.

A number of dispensers exist in the prior art for dispensing paper toweling and the like. Some of these dispensers are of the "center-pull" type wherein a web of toweling or other sheet material is pulled from the center of a coreless roll through a nozzle or other restricted element forming a restricted passageway. Assuming that the individual sheets of toweling or the like are connected by perforated lines, as is common, the nozzle or other restrictor element will resist pulling of the sheet material by the user, thus breaking an individual sheet from the remaining web along the perforated lien interconnecting same.
It is quite common to utilize center-pull nozzles which have a cone-like or funnel-shaped configuration. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,868, issued Mar. 6, 1990, discloses a paper towel dispenser employing a conical funnel having an exit hole larger than the entrance hole thereof which provides an exit for paper towels being dispensed. The entrance opening and exit opening of the conical funnel are dimensioned such that a first paper towel will separate from a following paper towel along the perforation boundary therebetween when a leading portion of the following paper towel exits from the exit opening in the funnel.
The cone or funnel-like nozzle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,868 has a characteristic which is believed to be typical of center-pull dispenser nozzles of the cone or funnel type. Namely, the inner and outer walls of the nozzle terminate at a common plane at the bottom of the nozzle, creating a sharp edge where the nozzle exit opening is defined by the nozzle wall. This results in fairly rapid wear of the nozzle at the exit opening and an increase in the size of the exit opening. A change in the dimensions of the nozzle exit opening can result in improper operation of the dispenser. Most commonly, this manifests itself in the inability of the device to provide a clean or complete separation between the lead sheet and that following.
The following patents were also located during a search directed to this invention: U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,491, issued Aug. 13, 1985, U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,895, issued Mar. 24, 1987, U.S. Pat. No. 2,340,090, issued Jan. 25, 1944, U.S. Pat. No. 1,649,273, issued Nov. 15, 1927, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,816, issued Apr. 21, 1981. The patents relate to various approaches for dispensing towels and other sheets from a supply thereof by pulling the sheets through a restricted opening to detach one sheet from another.


A bra gauging device is an apparatus which enables the wearer to measure the correct bra size corresponding to the actual bust size of the wearer, preferably up to a fraction of an inch. The apparatus includes a measurement band, a left cup-measuring mechanism, and a right cup-measuring mechanism. The measurement band facilitates the individual bust measurement of each breast as well as other breast-related measurements around the upper torso. The measurement band further supports the left cup-measuring mechanism and the right cup-measuring mechanism positioned against the breasts of the wearer. The left cup-measuring mechanism is used to measure the bust size of the left breast retained by the left cup. Likewise, the right cup-measuring mechanism is used to measure the bust size of the right breast retained by the right cup. The apparatus also includes a left wing body and a right wing body for lateral customization and support.

An individual's body shape and size can differ greatly from one person to another. Ranges in body size for each person can depend on many factors such as genetics, growth irregularities, mastectomy, etc. Body shapes and sizes can widely differ especially for women. Women's breasts, specifically, greatly vary based on the shape and the position of each breast. Various traditional breast sizing systems exist; however, these traditional systems and their method of determining breast size are heavily flawed due to a lack of specific measurements pertaining to each women's breasts as these systems often measure the breasts together. Thus, irregular or unique breast sizes are often incorrectly measured.
An objective of the present invention is to address the shortcomings of old-fashioned breast measuring systems. The present invention offers a bra gauging device to measure the exact size of each breast of the wearer, separately. The present invention provides a measuring mechanism which enables the wearer to gauge the exact measurement of each breast of the wearer. The individual measurements of each of the breasts of the wearer can then be utilized to generate a custom fitting bra as well as a specific pattern for manufacturing.


A cell library database includes function information of standard cells which are basic circuits forming a logical device, each of the standard cell comprising at least one of power supply terminal as logical terminals, the function information of the standard cell containing logical information or delay information of the power supply terminal relative to an output terminal, or function information of macro cells which are functional circuits forming a logical device, each of the macro cell comprising at least one of power supply terminals as logical terminals, the function information of the macro cell containing logical information or delay information of said power supply terminals relative to an output terminal. A design aiding system uses the cell library database to execute logical simulation, etc.

This invention relates to a cell library database used in computer-aided design (CAD) of logical devices such as semiconductor integrated circuits and a design aiding system using the cell library database. Particularly, the invention relates to a cell library database and a design aiding system appropriate for logical simulation used for design verification of logic, delay, or the like, of logical devices ,failure analysis, software development tools, or the like.
Hitherto, in computer-aided design (CAD) of logical devices such as semiconductor integrated circuits, power consumption has been reduced based on various techniques and concepts with an increase in the importance of low power consumption in chips, systems, apparatus, etc., of LSI, etc.
One of the techniques of reducing power consumption is a design technique of changing a conventional single power supply to multiple power supplies. According to the design technique, in LSI, for example, conventional power supply voltage is used for an interface circuit with the outside and the power supply voltage is decreased for internal circuitry, thereby reducing power consumption. Based on a similar concept, conventional power supply voltage is given to blocks in LSI requiring high-speed performance and lower power supply voltage is given to blocks not requiring high speed, whereby it is also made possible to reduce power consumption of the LSI.
To conduct circuit design of LSI as exemplified above, there is a possibility that the same standard cell may be used under different power supply voltages. Thus, in logical simulation, it is necessary to provide cell library databases corresponding to the power supply voltages even for the cells having the same logic and use the provided cell library databases to verify the design. JP-A-6-260557 discloses a semiconductor design aiding system for verifying design of LSI with multiple power supplies mixed. The contents of the semiconductor design aiding system will be discussed briefly.
The semiconductor design aiding system in the related art is as follows: When a circuit diagram is drawn, the cells having the same logical function are represented by the same symbol mark. Which power supply voltage each cell operates on is indicated in the circuit diagram, whereby when the circuit diagram is expanded to a net list, the cell is converted into a predetermined cell name based on the combination of the corresponding function and operation power supply voltage, whereby the logical information and electrical characteristics of the corresponding logical cell in the cell library database are used to execute logical simulation.
FIG. 8 illustrates the contents of the cell library database used in the related art example. Cell library registration information contains information of a symbol mark 501 of a cell (NAND gate 510), a logical relation table 502 of input signals A and B and an output signal Y, and a delay time table 503 listing the propagation delay times until the output signal C is output after the input signals A and B change.
Another technique aside from the above-described technologies of reducing power consumption is as follows: A control function is provided wherein when the circuit operation is not required, power supply to the corresponding logical block is stopped and when the circuit operation is required, power is supplied to the logical block, whereby fruitless circuit operation is reduced for decreasing the power consumption of the whole circuitry.
With the design aiding system in the related art described above, logical simulation of a semiconductor integrated circuit with multiple power supplies mixed can be executed; however, the logical information and the delay time information are described as registration information in the cell library database based on the premise that power is always supplied, thus if logical simulation is executed for a circuit having a control function of supplying power to logical blocks and stopping power supply to logical blocks as in the third technique of reducing power consumption as described above, all logical blocks always operate. Thus, if the whole circuitry is logically simulated at a time, it is impossible to verify design of the circuit specifications as essentially assumed and the circuit for controlling power supply and power supply stop and the logical blocks must be logically simulated and checked separately. Since logical simulation of the whole circuitry cannot be accomplished in batch, the connection relationship between the logical blocks, etc., is verified by another worker or function simulation or the like; the design verification job becomes intricate.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a cell library database and a design aiding system for making it possible to logically simulate the whole of even a logical device comprising a control function of power supply and power supply stop in batch and consequently execute logical simulation accurately and easily.
To the end, according to first aspect of the invention, there is provided a cell library database having function information of standard cells which are basic circuit forming a logical device, each of the standard cell having at least one of power supply terminal as logical terminal, the function information of the standard cell containing logical information of the power supply terminal relative to an output terminal.
According to second aspect of the invention, there is provided a cell library database having function information of standard cells which are basic circuit forming a logical device, each of the standard cell having at least one of power supply terminal as logical terminal, the function information of the standard cell contains delay information of the power supply terminals relative to an output terminal.
According to third aspect of the invention, there is provided a cell library database having function information of macro cells which are functional circuits forming a logical device, each of the macro cell having at least one of power supply terminal as logical terminals, and the function information of the macro cell containing logical information of the power supply terminal relative to an output terminal.
According to fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a cell library database having function information of macro cells which are functional circuits forming a logical device, each of the macro cell having at least one of power supply terminal as logical terminals and the function information of the macro cell containing delay information of the power supply terminals relative to an output terminal.
According to fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a design aiding system using a cell library database as described above for aiding design of logical devices.
In the cell library database, the standard cell comprises one or more power supply terminals as logical terminals and the function information of the standard cell for each type in the cell library database contains the logical information or the delay information of the one or more power supply terminals relative to the output terminal. The design aiding system uses the cell library database to execute logical simulation, or the like.
The standard cell is a basic circuit forming a logical device; for example, it corresponds to a gate element such as a NAND gate or a NOR gate, a flip-flop (latch), or the like. Power supply potential Vcc, ground potential GND, etc., is supplied to the power supply terminal, and different potentials of 5 [V], 3.3 [V], 2.5 [V], 1.8 [V], or the like, are used as the power supply potential Vcc. The logical information of the standard cell corresponds to a logic relation table of the input and power supply terminals to the output terminal, etc., for example. As the handled signal values, the logical values xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cHxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cXxe2x80x9d corresponding to xe2x80x9cundefinedxe2x80x9dare used and in addition, xe2x80x9c↑xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c↓xe2x80x9d are used as transition state signal values if the rising state and the falling state of a signal are significant; xe2x80x9cZxe2x80x9d representing a high impedance state in a tristate element also becomes a real signal value. The delay information of the standard cell corresponds to a propagation delay occurring when a signal propagates in the element, an inertia delay determined in association with energy for driving the element, and the like. Further, the logical simulation mentioned here has a wide range of applications of not only design verification of logic, delay, etc., of a logical device, but also failure analysis and software development tools.
Since the standard cell comprises one or more power supply terminals as logical terminals and the function information of the standard cell for each type in the cell library database has the logical information of the one or more power supply terminals relative to the output terminal, the circuit operation difference caused by power supply or power supply stop can be simulated even for a logical device containing a logical block with power supply undergoing switching control. Thus, it is made possible to verify logic design of the whole logical device in batch. Since the function information has the delay information of the one or more power supply terminals relative to the output terminal, it is made possible to execute design verification of delay considering the power supply timing. To sum up, logical simulation of a logical device with multiple power supplies mixed can be executed and in addition, the whole of even a logical device comprising a control function of power supply and power supply stop for reducing power consumption can also be executed in batch; consequently, it is made possible to conduct logical simulation and design aiding accurately and easily.
In the cell library database, the macro cell comprises one or more power supply terminals as logical terminals and the function information of the macro cell for each type in the cell library database contains the logical information or the delay information of the one or more power supply terminals relative to the output terminal. The design aiding system uses the cell library database to execute logical simulation, or the like.
The macro cell is a circuit forming a logical device and having a functional unit; for example, it corresponds to a register, a data selector, a level shifter, an adder, memory, or the like. Power supply potential Vcc, ground potential GND, etc., is supplied to the power supply terminal, and different potentials of 5 [V], 3.3 [V], 2.5 [V], 1.8 [V], etc., are used as the power supply potential Vcc. The logical information of the macro cell corresponds to a logic relation table of the input and power supply terminals to the output terminal, etc., for example. As the handled signal values, the logical values xe2x80x9c1,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c0,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cL,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cX,xe2x80x9d corresponding to xe2x80x9cundefinedxe2x80x9d are used and in addition, xe2x80x9c↑xe2x80x9d and. xe2x80x9c↓xe2x80x9d are used as transition state signal values if the rising state and the falling state of a signal are significant; xe2x80x9cZxe2x80x9d representing a high impedance state in a tristate element also becomes a real signal value. The delay information of the macro cell corresponds to a propagation delay occurring when a signal propagates in the macro cell, an inertia delay determined in association with drive energy, and the like. Further, the logical simulation mentioned here has a wide range of applications of not only design verification of logic, delay, etc., of a logical device, but also failure analysis and software development tools.
Since the macro cell comprises one or more power supply terminals as logical terminals and the function information of the macro cell for each type in the cell library database has the logical information of the one or more power supply terminals relative to the output terminal, the circuit operation difference caused by power supply or power supply stop can be simulated even for a logical device containing a logical block with power supply undergoing switching control. Thus, it is made possible to verify logic design of the whole logical device in batch. Since the function information has the delay information of the one or more power supply terminals relative to the output terminal, it is made possible to execute design verification of delay considering the power supply timing. To sum up, logical simulation of a logical device with multiple power supplies mixed can be executed and in addition, the whole of even a logical device comprising a control function of power supply and power supply stop for reducing power consumption can also b e executed in batch; consequently, it is made possible to conduct logical simulation and design aiding accurately and easily.
The cell library databases of the first or second aspect of the invention can be used to execute simulation at a gate level, the cell library databases of the third or fourth aspect of the invention can be used to execute simulation at a function level. And the cell library databases of the invention can be used in combination to execute simulation at a gate and function mix level. Further, if the cell library databases of the third or fourth of the invention are applied to high-order modules in a design hierarchy, simulation at a module level can be executed.
The logical devices to which the cell library database and the design aiding system of the invention are applied include not only the semiconductor integrated circuits of IC, LSI, VLSI, ULSI, etc., but also a logical device comprising discrete parts mounted on a board.

Cell library database and design aiding system

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Techniques are presented for distributed processing Distributed-Input Distributed-Output (DIDO) wireless communication. A plurality of base stations (e.g., APs) are provided, each configured to wirelessly serve one or more wireless devices (e.g., clients). At least first and second base stations are configured to transmit simultaneously at an agreed upon time. The first and second base stations are each configured to locally generate steering matrix information used to spatially precode their respective data transmissions in order to steer their respective data transmissions to their one or more wireless devices while nulling to the one or more client devices of the other base station. Moreover, the first and second base stations are each configured to locally generate a transmit waveform by applying the steering matrix information to their respective data transmissions.

Wireless spectrum is a limited resource. As WiFi™ wireless local area networks become more prevalent, there will be higher density deployments that suffer from more co-channel interference, and the need to improve bandwidth per cell.
Multi-User Multi-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) techniques of IEEE 802.11ac can improve downstream throughput by transmitting to multiple clients at the same time. However, this assumes that there is traffic for multiple clients on the same access point (AP) and there is sufficient separation to adequately null between the two or more clients. In most cases, the data rates used for MU-MIMO will be lower than those that can be used for single user MIMO because nulling is not perfect, degrees of freedom are used for nulling versus signal-to-noise ratio improvement, and the combined channels will change more frequently.
Distributed-Input Distributed-Output (DIDO) techniques have even more potential value, but conventional DIDO techniques involve the use of a data center for centralized signal processing that has its own set of challenges. Network bandwidth requirements to communicate the raw modulated signals to all of the APs involved in a DIDO transmission are substantial, and this is exacerbated as more transmit antenna paths are added at each AP to improve the receive signal-to-noise ratio at clients. Consequently, current DIDO techniques are not practical as wireless data rates increase, e.g., as with IEEE 802.11ac. In addition, latency in responding to changing channel conditions is also an issue that is made worse by a centralized processing DIDO solution.

Distributed processing distributed-input distributed-output (DIDO) wireless communication


A hydraulic motor with propulsion members located between an eccentric cam associated with a shaft and a counter-element. The propulsion members consist of two elements slidable telescopically with respect to one another in the longitudinal direction and having annular bearing shoulders kept pressed against corresponding sliding-contact surfaces of the eccentric cam and the counter-element by springs. The resilient springs are located outside the propulsion members and are arranged between the annular edges and elements for mechanically retaining them.

In the field of motors with propulsion members which are moved by means of the supply of a fluid and are therefore generally defined as hydraulic, it is known of the possibility of provide the propulsion members with a cylinder and a piston which are telescopically coupled together so as to translate relatively upon rotation of an eccentric cam associated with the drive shaft, thus providing thrust to the shaft itself.
Said propulsors may be arranged radially or inclined as described Ser. No. 09/01708 filed Feb. 2, 1998 in co-pending patent application in the name of the same Applicant.
It is also known that one of the problems posed by these propulsors is the need to keep the end edge of the cylinder and the piston sealingly adherent with respect to the said eccentric cam and a reaction element consisting of a cover-piece fixed to the casing of the motor in the case of radial motors or a disc keyed onto the drive shaft in the case of inclined propulsors, so as not to cause fluid leakages during the relative travel between piston and cylinder. One of the solutions commonly used to obtain this seal consists in the insertion, inside each propulsion member, of a resilient element, such as a helical spring for example, arranged coaxially with respect to the propulsor and designed to push against corresponding internal shoulders of the cylinder and the piston so as to press said cylinder and piston against the associated abutment surfaces.
An example of this type of embodiment is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,830 in the name of the same Riva Calzoni S.p.A. This solution, however, has some drawbacks including those caused by the dynamic stresses to which the spring is subjected during travel of the piston with respect to the cylinder, which results in the need for over-dimensioning of the spring itself, causing a strong thrust on the sliding surfaces making contact, with consequent greater wear of the latter.
In addition to this, the presence of the spring and the associated support shoulders for them inside the cylinder prevents a reduction in the volume of fluid which does not emerge from the cylinder at the end of the compression phase (so-called dead volume), increasing the problems of exchanging the fluid itself with fresh fluid supplied by the delivery ducts.

Hydraulic motor with radial propulsors retained against corresponding sliding-contact surfaces by resilient means and by mechanical-retaining means located outside said propulsors


A hot gas path assembly, suitable for use in the hot gas path of a gas turbine, has as a hot gas duct wall an impact-cooled gas-impermeable element and a transpiration-cooled gas permeable element. The gas-permeable element is a run-on covering for the sealing tip, and the gas-impermeable element is a blade foot of a turbine blade. Coolant is led in series through an impact-cooling element to cool the gas-impermeable element, and through the gas-permeable element for transpiration cooling and, if appropriate, also cools the sealing tip. Coolant thus is utilized particularly efficiently. Subdividing walls are arranged for the lateral subdivision of the coolant path, particularly in the circumferential direction, into segments. Because of the subdivision, in the event of damage to the gas-permeable element in one segment, the other segments remain essentially uninfluenced. Redundant cooling orifices may ensure coolant flow even when flow resistance in a transpiration-cooled element rises.

The efficiency of an axial-throughflow gas turbine is influenced, inter alia, by leakage streams of the compressed gas that occur between rotating and nonrotating components of the turbine. The gap occurring between the tips of the moving blades and the casing walls surrounding the moving blades plays an appreciable part in this. Efforts are therefore aimed at keeping the gaps as small as possible. In the event of deviation from the design point, a brushing of the moved components against the static components can easily occur. For this reason, use is often made of brushing- and/or abrasion-tolerant structural elements, such as, for example, honeycomb seals, honeycombs or else porous ceramic or metallic structures or felts, which serve as counterrunning surfaces of the sealing tips of the moving blades and are partially cut into by these during a running-in phase. Use of such brushing-tolerant sealing elements reduces serious machine damage in the event of minor brushing events, since the brushing is absorbed by the soft structure of the counterrunning surface, without the blades being damaged.
Both the tips of the moving blades or guide vanes and the honeycomb seals used are exposed to very high temperatures when the gas turbine is operating in the hot-gas mode.
It is therefore known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 3,365,172, to act upon the sealing tips of the moving blades through honeycomb seals with cooling air. For this purpose, the carrier for the honeycomb seals is pierced through with small cooling air bores that are supplied with cooling air via a peripheral annular chamber.
JP 61149506 shows a similar embodiment, in which the honeycomb seals are carried by a layer of porous metal that is contiguous to a supply chamber for cooling air. In this embodiment, too, the cooling air is delivered to the blade tips through the honeycomb seals.
The routing of cooling air through porous sealing elements is likewise known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,052. In this case, the porous sealing elements are transpiration-cooled by the cooling air when the latter flows through them. U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,376 discloses a configuration in which the counterrunning surface of the blades is designed to be both impact-cooled and transpiration-cooled. U.S. Pat. No. 3,728,039 likewise discloses transpiration-cooled porous rings as counterrunning surfaces of blades. In this case, the feed of cooling air to the ring is segmented. The ring itself is produced in one piece.
One problem with a multiplicity of configurations is that, when, due to brushing, damage to the gas-permeable elements occurs or even a region is torn out completely, the coolant pressure collapses, and overheating and finally the failure of the entire sealing arrangement occur. Likewise, when, in a region, the porosity is blocked due to deformation induced by brushing or else due to dirt, the coolant flows around this region of the sealing element. The cooling of the latter is no longer ensured, and local overheating occurs. Due to the overheating, the region affected may burn up. The cooling air then flows out through the large hole which has thus arisen, and the previously unaffected regions are no longer cooled. The component as a whole consequently fails over the entire circumference.
A further challenge that arises is to use the available cooling air as efficiently as possible, since, by virtue of a saving of cooling air, considerable power output and efficiency potentials can be exploited.


A message processing application may receive at least one inquiry message from a user device in the form or a text message, email or other communication message format. The message may be received and processed to identify the content of the inquiry message to determine whether the inquiry message should be transferred to a live agent or whether the inquiry message should be responded to with an automated response stored in a database.

Conventionally, a user would submit a text message or short message service type message (SMS) to a known service provider in order to receive certain feedback. SMS-based messaging and question generation are becomingly increasingly popular as it saves time for the customer, the customer support center and requires less people to answer phone calls and address user concerns. Also, in the case of interactive voice response (IVR) systems, a user may be faced with various options for pressing phone keys to be directed to the correct department or in an effort to speak with a live agent.
The common and conventional SMS message processing applications generally have strict rules for messages that are received and processed by the interpretation server on the service provide side. For instance, a common example may be to respond to a customer inquiry or initiate a payment request to the customer's mobile device with instructions, such as "Reply 1 for Payments", "Reply 2 for Agent Support", "Reply 3 for more options". Then if the user replied with an option that does not match what the application is anticipating at that time, normally an error message would be returned to the user, such as "We're sorry—we don't understand you" or "Please try again" without any recourse for providing the user with assistance or addressing what the user is requesting.
Other example conventional IVR applications may provide a way for the user with access to an agent when automation options continue to fail (i.e., press "0" for an operator or a live customer agent), etc. This configuration is common with SMS applications. For example, when automation fails, there generally is a response to the individual, however, the response is not in furtherance of the user's request and it generally only provides that the user has made an error, and sometimes a phone number is provided that the user should call if they need further assistance.

Short message service (SMS) response and interpretation application


The present invention provides an apparatus and method for reducing jitter in a periodic signal. The apparatus comprises: a frequency discriminator configured to receive the periodic signal and feedback of an output signal of the apparatus and calculate an estimate value for a length of a current period of the periodic signal; a phase discriminator configured to receive the periodic signal and determine an adjustment factor for the length of the current period of an input signal according to the input signal in a previous period of the periodic signal and the output signal in the previous period of the apparatus; and an adjustor configured to determine the period length of the output signal in the current period according to the estimate value for the length of the current period and the adjustment factor for the length of the current period.

An LED (Light Emitting Diode) is a semiconductor device capable of converting electrical energy to optical energy. An LED driver refers to a power supply adjusting electronic device for driving the LED to emit light or driving an LED module assembly to operate normally. A universal LED driver is generally designed and provided by special companies. These companies modularize it and then provide it to an LED terminal application product manufacturer for use. However, as for some specific applications, such a universal module might not be applicable or cannot work very well. For example, some periods of a vertical synchronous signal provided by the universal LED driver module might have ±5% jitter as compared with a standard signal. In some cases, this jitter amplitude is too large and the signal cannot be directly used.
Therefore, there is a need for re-shaping the vertical synchronous signal for the LED driver so as to reduce or remove jitter thereof.

Apparatus and method for reducing jitter in periodic signals

iWatt Integrated Circuits Technology (Tianjin) Limited


A method of aggregating calls includes receiving a group of dialed digits at a service switching point (52). The service switching point (52) determines if an access code is present. When the access code is present, the service switching (52) transmits an information analyzed query (54) to a switching control point (56). The service switching point (52) then receives an analyze route message (60) from the switching control point (56). The service switching point (52) then routes a call to a hub service switching point (58).

Inter-exchange carriers (IXC) provide discounts on interLATA (Local Access and Transport Area) calls to their customers if they will aggregate their calls (network traffic) to a single point. To facilitate this service, inter-exchange carriers (IXC) offer to provide private facilities from each of the customer's locations to the single point of presence. FIG. 1 illustrates the situation. A customer having facility A 12, facility B 14 and facility C 16 has to aggregate all their interLATA calls. Facility A is coupled to a central office (CO) 18 that has a dedicated DS-1 line 20 to the IXC's POP 22. The central office 18 includes an alternate route selection system (ARS) 24. The ARS 24 can route interLATA calls to another IXC via another DS-1 or public office routes if, for instance, there is no capacity left on the DS-1 line 20. Facility B 14 and facility C 16 are coupled to CO 26. A second dedicated DS-1 line 28 connects the CO 26 to the POP 22. A second ARS 30 duplicating the function of the ARS 24 is required for the second CO 26. A duplicate ARS and another DS-1 line will be required for every CO used by a customer facility. Leasing DS-1 lines can be very expensive, especially if they are not used at capacity all the time. However, if the DS-1 lines are constantly being used at capacity, then a number of calls (network traffic) are having to be routed to a second route, public or another DS-1, that is more expensive.
Thus there exists a need for a method of aggregating calls (network traffic) that is flexible enough to handle peak loads without the customer having to pay for unused capacity and does not require duplication of systems, such as ARSs.

Method of aggregating a plurality of network traffic


A sheet transportation device for use in an image forming apparatus is provided which has self-diagnosis and self-repair functions. The sheet transportation device has a sheet transportation system including a plurality of units (8). A control sequence for a sheet transportation operation is applied from a system body (10) to the respective units (8). The units (8) each execute the control sequence to perform the sheet transportation operation. The units (8) are each constructed so as to perform an autonomous operation. This construction allows the respective units to autonomously perform self-diagnosis and repair operations. The fault diagnosis and repair operations are performed in parallel to the sheet transportation control. Therefore, the sheet transportation device can flexibly adapt itself to an external influence such as a change in the use environment and a malfunction due to a time-related change such as the aging of components thereof. Thus, the sheet transportation device ensures a highly reliable operation and yet requires less labor for the maintenance and inspection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet transportation device for an image forming apparatus and, more particularly, to a sheet transportation device having functions of performing self-diagnostics on sheet-feeding and transporting operations and self-repairing a fault.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, a research and development has recently been conducted on self-diagnosis and self-repair functions utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) for maintenance automation.
The applicant of the present invention previously proposed a system for ensuring formation of a high quality image and, if the image quality is deteriorated, performing self-diagnosis and self-repair operations (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-130331 (1992)).
In terms of the maintenance of the overall image forming apparatus, however, the prior art is not satisfactory which deals only with the image quality maintenance of formed images. Therefore, it is desirable to cover a wider range of objective functions for maintenance thereof.
In recent years, a need has arisen for sequentially feeding a multiplicity of sheets for the speeding up of the operation of a copying machine. The sequential feeding of the multiplicity of sheets essentially requires improvement of the performance and stability of a sheet transportation system of the copying machine.
Unfortunately, most of presently available sheet transportation systems or mechanisms can use only limited types of sheets made of specific materials, and can be used only in a specific operational environment because of their performance unstableness toward a change in the operational environment.
The sheet transportation system per se deteriorates with time due to the aging of components thereof, thereby often causing a sheet feeding failure (e.g., plural-sheet feeding, no-sheet feeding and sheet jam). When such a failure occurs, a typical approach to the functional maintenance of the system is the cleaning of the system or the replacement of a faulty component.


An apparatus (10) for use in turning steerable wheels of a vehicle (12) upon manual rotation of a steering wheel (14) comprises a front steering motor (36) coupled to a front steerable wheel (18) of the vehicle (12) for turning the front steerable wheel. A rear steering motor (66) is coupled to a rear steerable wheel (22) of the vehicle (12) for turning the rear steerable wheel. A position sensor (34) senses a rotational position of the steering wheel (14) and provides an output indicative of said rotational position. A controller (90) receives the output of the position sensor (34) and controls the front and rear steering motors (36, 66) to turn the front steerable wheel (22) in response to the output from the position sensor (34) indicating rotation of the steering wheel (14) in a first portion of a range of rotation of the steering wheel. The controller (90) also controls the front and rear steering motors (36, 66) to turn only the rear steerable wheel (22) in response to the output from the position sensor (34) indicating rotation of the steering wheel (14) in a second portion of the range of rotation of the steering wheel.

A known vehicle steering apparatus includes a front steering gear connected with front steerable wheels of a vehicle. Two rear steering gears are connected with rear steerable wheels of the vehicle. A position sensor determines the steering position of front steerable wheels of the vehicle. A controller controls operation of the two rear steering gears and turning of the rear steerable wheels of the vehicle. A steering apparatus having this construction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,350.
Another known vehicle steering apparatus includes a front steering gear connected with front steerable wheels of a vehicle. A rear steering gear may be connected with rear steerable wheels of a vehicle. A torque sensor is connected with a steering wheel of the vehicle, and a controller is connected with the torque sensor. The torque sensor is operable to provide an output upon manual application of force to the steering wheel. The controller is operable to effect operation of the rear steering gear in response to the output from the torque sensor indicating application of at least a predetermined force to the steering wheel. A steering apparatus having this construction is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0144818.

Method and apparatus for rear wheel steering control


A Schottky diode assembly includes a Schottky contact formed on a semiconductor substrate and having a semiconductor region of a first conduction type, a metal layer disposed adjacently on the semiconductor region, a protective structure constructed on a peripheral region of the Schottky contact and a doped region in the semiconductor substrate having a second conduction type of opposite polarity from the first conduction type. The doped region extends from a main surface of the semiconductor substrate to a predetermined depth into the semiconductor substrate. The doped region of the protective structure has at least two different first and second doped portions located one below the other relative to the main surface of the semiconductor substrate. The first doped portion is at a greater depth and has a comparatively lesser doping, and the second doped portion has a comparatively higher doping and a slight depth adjacent the main surface of the semiconductor substrate.

Field of the Invention:
The invention relates to a Schottky diode assembly including a Schottky contact formed on a semiconductor substrate and having a semiconductor region of a first conduction type, a metal layer disposed adjacently on the semiconductor region, a protective structure constructed on a peripheral region of the Schottky contact, and a doped region constructed in the semiconductor substrate and having a second conduction type of opposite polarity from the first conduction type, the doped region extending from a main surface of the semiconductor substrate to a predetermined depth into the semiconductor substrate. The invention also relates to a method for producing such a Schottky diode assembly.
In order to improve the depletion properties of a Schottky diode, it is known to diffuse a guard ring, of opposite conductivity to the semiconductor region of the diode, at the peripheral region of the metal-to-substrate junction. That produces a graduated p-n junction at the diode edge, so that leakage currents can be reduced. In the case of an n-doped silicon epitaxial layer for the diode semiconductor region, the guard ring is p-conductive. As a result of that provision it is possible to successfully adjust the depletion currents of a Schottky diode uniformly over the production of the diode and at the lowest level for a particular diode type. In order to optimize the breakdown voltage for a predetermined diode type, the doping of the guard ring should be as low as possible and diffused as deeply as possible, yet should be located above the level of the epitaxial doping so that the p-n junction is effective. However, low doping of the guard ring at the boundary surface with the dielectric disposed adjacent the metal-to-substrate contact increases the danger of channeling at that boundary surface, which results in an increase in the depletion current of the diode and the capacitance.

Schottky diode assembly and production method