In the control section, an operation instruction not prescribing a functional specification, and a unit for processing the specific application-purpose operation instruction is provided within the processor core. The structure of this unit can be changed based on a flexible pipeline structure, and is separately designed for each application field. A register that prescribes a latency from when an instruction of the above unit is issued till when a result can be utilized is also provided in the processor core so as to prevent contention of an output port. Another register that prescribes a latency relating to a constraint of an interval of issuing an instruction of the above unit is also provided in the processor core so as to prevent contention of a resource with the preceding instructions.

Many times some special processing that is specialized for a specific application are utilized. An information processing apparatus loaded with a specific application-purpose operation instruction is used to efficiently carry out such a processing. However, the specific application-purpose operation instruction is different for each application field. Therefore, the special processing designed for a specific application cannot be applied for a general purpose. Therefore, in many cases, such a specific application-purpose operation instruction becomes useless in a different application field.
When the application of such a specific application-purpose operation instruction to various application fields is taken into consideration, it is considered one way to develop a processor that is equipped with all the specific application-purpose operation instructions covering various application fields. However, the development of such a processor brings about an increase in the number of instructions and an increase in the complexity of the structure of the processor. Further, this brings about various demerits such as an increase in the circuit scale, an increase in power consumption, and an increase in the cost of a chip.
In order to overcome the above problems, according to a conventional practice, an additional processing unit such as a coprocessor having an own instruction control structure is connected to the outside of a processor that executes normal operation instructions. Based on this structure, a specific application-purpose operation instruction is added. According to this arrangement, it is not necessary to redesign the processor itself.
The block diagram in FIG. 1 shows the structure of a conventional processor core. Conventionally, the processor core is constructed of a memory section 1011, an instruction fetch control section 1012, an instruction buffer section 1013, an instruction decoding section 1014, an instruction issue control section 1015, a score board section 1016, an instruction execution control section 1017, a load/store unit 1018, an executing section 1019, a branch unit 1020, and a general-purpose register section 1021.
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are diagrams for explaining a structure and an operation of the conventional instruction execution control section 1017. In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, when there are a plurality of instructions that maybe issued simultaneously, portions that are specialized for the operation of one of those instructions are shown. FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show characteristic portions relating to a control for writing a result of an instruction group having two pipeline stages that belongs to an instruction category A1 and a result of an instruction group B2 corresponding having four pipeline stages, and a clear control of the score board.
First, FIG. 2 will be explained. The instruction execution control section 1017 receives an operation code (including a valid flag of the operation code) and a destination register number from the instruction decoding section 1014. The instruction execution control section 1017 receives a release flag of an instruction from the instruction issue control section 1015.
A decoder 1022 receives an operation code and its valid flag, makes a decision about to which instruction group the operation code belongs, and outputs the valid flag. AND circuits 1023 and 1024 calculate AND logic of the valid flag and a resource flag output from the decoder 1022, and write a result into valid flags (valid A1/B1) 1025 and 1026 of the respective pipeline registers.
A destination register number is stored into a first pipeline stage 1027 of the pipeline register. The information is passed to the next pipeline register for each one stage per one cycle, that is, to valid flags 1028 and 1029 of valid A2/B2 respectively and a second pipeline stage 1030, to a valid flag 1031 of valid B3 and a third pipeline stage 1032, and to a valid flag 1033 of valid B4 and a fourth pipeline stage 1034.
At a final stage of the pipeline register, OR circuit 1035 calculates OR logic of the valid flag of each instruction group, outputs a score board clear request signal to the score board section 1016, and outputs a write request signal to the register section 1021. At the same time, the value of a destination register of the pipeline register corresponding to the final stage of the valid flag is selected by a valid flag 1028 of valid A2 or valid flag 1033 of valid B4.
An AND circuit 1036 outputs AND logic of the valid flag 1028 of valid A2 and the value of the second pipeline stage 1030. AND circuit 1037 outputs AND logic of the valid flag 1033 of valid B4 and the value of the fourth pipeline stage 1034. OR circuit 1038 calculates OR logic of the outputs of the AND circuit 1036 and 1037, and outputs a result as a destination register number to the score board section 1016 and the register section 1021.
When an output port of the pipeline register is shared, the instructions cannot be written at the same time. In such a case, in this case, information (suppress A) regarding the timing of using the output port is posted to the instruction issue control section 1015. Thus, the instruction issue control section 1015 carries out a control to avoid a contention of the output stage, thereby to prevent a contention of the write port. As the information (suppress A) of the timing of using the output port, the valid flag 1029 of valid B2 is used. In other words, when the instruction group B is at the second pipeline stage, a control signal (suppress A) which restricts the issuing of the instruction group A is issued.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a structure of a control circuit for normal instructions of a type that occupies the resource for a constant period. The control circuit shown in FIG. 3 includes all the components shown in FIG. 2, and in addition includes an adder 1041, two selectors 1042 and 1043, a counter 1044, three comparators 1045, 1046 and 1047, a valid flag 1048 of valid n, n-th stage 1049 of the pipeline register, six AND circuits 1050, 1051, 1052, 1053, 1054 and 1055, and three OR circuits 1056, 1057 and 1058.
The AND circuit 1050 outputs AND logic of the output of the decoder 1022 and the release flag. The counter 1044 holds the value of the output value of the counter 1044 incremented by one by the adder 1041. The output value of the counter 1044 is compared with "n", "n-2" and "n-4" by the first comparator 1045, the second comparator 1046 and the third comparator 1047 respectively. Result of the comparison by the first comparator 1045 is input into a low active input terminal of the AND circuit 1051.
An output of the AND circuit 1051 is input into the OR circuit 1056 and the OR circuit 1057. The OR circuit 1056 outputs OR logic of the output of the AND circuit 1050 and the output of the AND circuit 1051, to the first selector 1042. The first selector 1042 resets the counter 1044 according to this input value. The OR circuit 1057 calculates OR logic of the output of the AND circuit 1050 and the output of the AND circuit 1051, and writes a result of this OR logic into the valid flag 1048 of valid n. The output of the valid flag 1048 of valid n is input into the AND circuits 1052, 1053 and 1054, and also to the other input terminal of the AND circuit 1051.
Result of the comparison by the first comparator 1045, the second comparator 1046 and the third comparator 1047 respectively is input into the other input terminal of the AND circuit 1052, the AND circuit 1053 and the AND circuit 1054 respectively. The output of the AND circuit 1052 is input into the OR circuit 1035. The OR circuit 1035 calculates OR logic of the valid flag of each instruction group and the output of the AND circuit 1052, outputs a score board clear request to the score board section 1016, and outputs a write request signal to the register section 1021.
The OR circuit 1058 calculates OR logic of the valid flag 1029 of valid B2 and the output of the AND circuit 1053, and issues a control signal (suppress A) which restricts the issuing of the instruction group A. The output of the AND circuit 1054 becomes a control signal (suppress B) which restricts the issuing of the instruction group B.
The second selector 1043 selects any one of a destination register number stored in the n-th stage 1049 of the pipeline register and a destination register number received from the instruction decoding section 1014. This selection is carried out according to the output of the AND circuit 1050. The selected number is stored into the n-th stage 1049 of the pipeline register.
The AND circuit 1055 calculates AND logic of the destination register number stored in the n-th stage 1049 of the pipeline register and the output of the AND circuit 1052. The OR circuit 1038 calculates OR logic of the outputs of the AND circuits 1055, 1036 and 1037, and outputs as a destination register number to the score board section 1016 and the register section 1021.
Based on the above structure, the counter 1044 holds the valid flag of the instruction and the destination register up to a cycle number at which a result of the instruction is output. When the counter 1044 has reached a prescribed cycle number, the destination register number and the register use flag clear signal are output to the score board section 1016. Further, the destination register number and the write request are output to the register section 1021.
Further, at a prescribed cycle number at which the succeeding instruction group occupying the same operating unit can use the operating unit, an operating unit use-flag clear signal is output. The instruction issue restriction signal (suppress A and suppress B) to the instruction issue control section 1015 is output based on a difference between the output port use timing and the execution cycle number of the succeeding instruction group.
In the information processing apparatus loaded with a specific application-purpose operation instruction, some times exceptional operation, such as overflow or underflow attributable to a bug that is a defect of a program, occurs when the specific application-purpose operation instruction is executed. In order to avoid such a bug, debugging is carried out at the program development stage.
The debugging is implemented using a debug supporting system. In general, the debug supporting system is provided with a breakpoint function or a single step function for interrupting a program under execution. The operator, who performs the debug, can halt the execution of a program to be debugged by using these functions, and check and change values of registers and memories in the halted state. The operator can then restart the execution of the program from a point of time when the program was halted.
As methods for realizing the breakpoint function, there are an instruction break method and a software break method. According to the instruction break method, before starting the execution of a program, an address of an instruction for halting the execution of the program is held in a breakpoint register that is provided in the hardware. An interruption is generated when the instruction assigned by the breakpoint register has been detected during the execution of the program. Then, the control is delivered to the debug supporting program via an interruption processing program. This state is posted to the debug operator. When the debug operator has instructed to restart the execution of the program, the control is returned to the origin from the debug supporting program.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an interruption processing program according to the instruction break method. When the interruption processing program is started after interrupting the execution of a program, the context is saved (step S1701) and the instruction break processing is carried out (step S1702). Then, the context is restored (step S1703), and the processing is recovered from the interruption (step S1704).
According to the software break method, before starting the execution of a program, an instruction for executing the program is substituted by an instruction for generating an interruption. Interruption is generated when the instruction for generating the interruption has been detected during the execution of the program. Then, the control is delivered to the debug supporting program via the interruption processing program. This state is posted to the debug operator. At the time of restarting the execution of the program, the execution of the original instruction that has been substituted is simulated, and then the control is delivered to the beginning. There is also a case that an exclusive instruction called a breakpoint instruction is prepared as the instruction for generating an interruption.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an interruption processing program according to the software break method. When the interruption processing program is started after interrupting the execution of a program, the context is saved (step S1801) and the software break processing is carried out (step S1802). Then, the context is restored (step S1803), and the processing is recovered from the interruption by an interruption return instruction (step S1804).
According to the single step function, when the debug operator has instructed to execute the single step function in a state that a program to be debugged is halted, the execution of the program is halted after an instruction to be executed next has been executed. As a method of realizing the single step function, there is a step break method. According to the step break method, a single step mode register is provided in the hardware so as to hold the result of the decision as to whether an interruption is to be generated or not after an instruction has been executed. In a single step mode, an interruption is generated after an instruction in focus has been executed. When an interruption has been generated, the control is delivered to the debug supporting program via the interruption processing program. This state is posted to the debug operator. When a restarting of the execution of the program has been instructed, the control is returned to the origin.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an interruption processing program based on the step break method. When the interruption processing program has been started after interrupting the execution of a program, the context is saved (step S1901) and the step break processing is carried out (step S1902). Then, the context is restored (step S1903), and the processing is recovered from the interruption by an interruption return instruction (step S1904).
In the information processing apparatus loaded with a specific application-purpose operation instruction, when an operation exception such as an overflow has occurred after the execution of the specific application-purpose operation instruction, it is necessary to detect a position on the program where this operation exception has occurred.
Conventionally, in order to detect an operation exception by guaranteeing a program sequence, a decision is made as to whether a control dependency due to an exception occurs or not in a certain operation instruction. When the operation instruction has a control dependency due to an exception, the execution of an instruction that follows this instruction is started after completing the execution of the operation instruction having the control dependency. On the other hand, when the instruction does not have a control dependency due to an exception, the execution of an instruction that follows this instruction is immediately started.
The block diagram in FIG. 7 shows the structure of the conventional information processing apparatus loaded with a specific application-purpose operation instruction. This information processing apparatus is equipped with a memory 101 having memories inside and outside of a chip, a bus and a cache circuit. This unit also has an instruction reading section 102 comprising an instruction read control section 121, a program counter 122 and an instruction word register 123. The unit also has a register control section 103 comprising a return instruction address register 131, an interruption pre-generation operation register 132, an operation register 133 and a general-purpose register 134. The unit also has an interruption control section 104 comprising a normal interruption control section 141. The unit also has an instruction executing section 105.
The instruction executing section 105 is equipped with an instruction decoding section 151, a load/store instruction executing section 152, an operation instruction executing section 153, a plurality of specific application-purpose operation instruction executing sections 154, a branch/interruption return instruction control section 156, a score board 157, a load/store instruction issue control section 158, an operation instruction issue control section 159, a branch/interruption return instruction issue control section 160, and a specific application-purpose operation instruction issue control section 162.
In this information processing apparatus, an interruption of a specific application-purpose operation instruction due to an operation exception is carried out as follows. Before starting the execution of the specific application-purpose operation instruction, the specific application-purpose operation instruction issue control section 162 makes a decision about the presence or absence of a control dependency based on the information of the flag of the score board 157 and the specific application-purpose operation instruction supplied from the instruction decoding section 151. Based on this decision, the specific application-purpose operation instruction issue control section 162 posts to the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing section 154 about whether it is possible to execute the specific application-purpose operation instruction or not.
When it is possible to execute the specific application-purpose operation instruction, the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing section 154 executes this instruction immediately. When it is not possible to execute the specific application-purpose operation instruction, the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing sections 154 wait until the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing section 154 receives a notice from the specific application-purpose operation instruction issue control section 162 that it is possible to execute the specific application-purpose operation instruction. When an operation exception has been detected during the execution of the specific application-purpose operation instruction, each of the instruction executing sections 152, 153 and 154 posts the occurrence of an instruction to the interruption control section 104, and makes it generate an interruption.
The block diagram in FIG. 8 shows another example structure of a conventional information processing apparatus loaded with a specific application-purpose operation instruction. This information processing apparatus has a structure such that a condition code register 171 is additionally provided to the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 7. The condition code register 171 holds a condition code that is posted from the operation instruction executing section 153 or the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing sections 154 after the execution of the respective operation instructions. This information processing apparatus is provided with a trap instruction for determining as to whether an exception is generated or not based on a value held in the condition code register 171 and a value in the instruction field.
After completing the execution of the instruction, each of the operation instruction executing section 153 and the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing sections 154 sets to the condition code register 171 a value that corresponds to the result of executing the instruction. When a trap instruction has been supplied from the instruction decoding section 151, the branch/interruption return instruction control section 156 makes a decision about whether an interruption is generated or not, based on a value held in the condition code register 171 and the value in the instruction field. When generating an interruption, the branch/interruption return instruction control section 156 requests the interruption control section 104 so as to generate an interruption.
In the information processing apparatus having the structure as shown in FIG. 8, an interruption of a specific application-purpose operation instruction due to an operation exception is carried out as follows. Before starting the execution of the specific application-purpose operation instruction, the specific application-purpose operation instruction issue control section 162 makes a decision about the presence or absence of a control dependency based on the information of the flag of the score board 157 and the specific application-purpose operation instruction supplied from the instruction decoding section 151. Based on this decision, the specific application-purpose operation instruction issue control section 162 posts to the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing section 154 about whether it is possible to execute the specific application-purpose operation instruction or not.
When it is possible to execute the specific application-purpose operation instruction, the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing sections 154 execute this instruction immediately. When it is not possible to execute the specific application-purpose operation instruction, the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing sections 154 wait until the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing sections 154 receive a notice from the specific application-purpose operation instruction issue control section 162 that it is possible to execute the specific application-purpose operation instruction. When the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing sections 154 have completed the execution of the instruction, the specific application-purpose operation instruction executing sections 154 set a value corresponding to a result of the execution of the instruction, to the condition code register 171.
The branch/interruption return instruction control section 156 makes a decision as to whether an interruption is to be generated or not based on the value of the condition code register 171 and the value of the instruction field. When executing an interruption, the branch/interruption return instruction control section 156 posts the occurrence of an instruction to the interruption control section 104, and makes it generate an interruption.
However, providing an additional information processing apparatus such as a coprocessor to a processor core having the conventional structure as shown in FIG. 1 has the following problems. A combined use of a specific application-purpose operation instruction having a few stages of an operation pipeline with normal instructions brings about a reduction in the performance, as there exists input/output overhead due to the external I/O units of the processor. Therefore, there has been a drawback in that, such combined use of instructions requires substantially the same amount of cost as that of the combination of normal instructions.
Further, as the pipeline structures of specific application-purpose operation instructions are different between application fields, it is necessary to review the instruction issue control circuit when the pipeline is built into the processor. This makes it necessary to redesign the processor control section. As a result, there has been a problem in that the cost of developing the processor increases and the development period also increases when the processor is to be used as an IP (Intellectual Property) of an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).
Further, in the conventional interruption processing shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 6, there are following problems. When an overflow or an underflow has occurred, operation result is clipped based on an upper limit value or a lower limit value in the saturation operation instruction as one of specific application-purpose operation instructions effective for clipping data (summarizing within a certain range of values, such as for example, within a range from 0 to 255, or within a range from −32,768 and 32,767) that frequently occur in the multimedia processing, for example. Therefore, there has been a problem in that, it is not possible to carry out an operation exceptional processing. As a result, the debug operator must each time confirm the presence or absence of occurrence of overflow or an underflow. Thus, a large amount of labor and a long time are necessary for debugging.
Further, in the conventional interruption processing shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, there are following problems. As it is necessary to check a specific application-purpose operation instruction whether a control dependency due to an exception occurs or not, a specific application-purpose operation instruction issue control circuit is necessary for each specific application-purpose operation instruction executing section. As a result, there has been a problem in that the circuit scale increases as the number of specific application-purpose operation instructions increases.

Information processing unit, and exception processing method for specific application-purpose operation instruction


The present invention provides a device for detecting foreign matter and a method for detecting foreign matter to detect a foreign matter on a surface of an object such as a film of an electrode mixture etc. or a foreign matter contained in the object, thereby to improve the reliability of the object. By irradiating an object with a terahertz illumination light 100 (wavelength of 4 μm to 10 mm) and detecting a scattered light 660 from an electrode 10 as an example of the object by a scattered light detector 200, a foreign matter on a surface of the electrode 10 or contained in the electrode 10, for example, a metal foreign matter 720, is detected. The electrode 10 is one in which electrode mixture layers 700 each including an active material 701, conductive additive and a binder as components are coated on both surfaces of a collector 710. The scattered light 660 results from a part of a transmitted light 656 reflected by the metal foreign matter 720.

A lithium ion battery (LIB) has rapidly been growing in demand in recent years.
However, a problem remains in that each fine metal foreign matter is mixed into the battery in a production of the LIB. There has therefore been a demand for an increase in a detection accuracy of the metal foreign matter in the production process.
In general, as means to detect a foreign matter of micro size attached to a surface of a semiconductor wafer, a liquid crystal substrate or the like with high sensitivity, there has been used a method for detecting scattered light using a dark field configuration (DF configuration).
An electrode sheet being one of members of the LIB is one that an electrode mixture being a mixture containing an active material, a conductive additive and a binder has been coated on a metal foil being a collector. In an inspection of the foreign matter mixed in the film of the electrode mixture in its production process, there has been a demand for the detection of a metal foreign matter of small size (several micrometers or so) contained in the film with high sensitivity. Among battery materials, a positive electrode material is generally used as a component, such as LiCoO2 or the like being a few micrometers in a particle size and being several tens of micrometers at the same level as the thickness. Therefore, a transmittance of visible light becomes 0.1% or less. It is thus difficult to detect the foreign matter in the film by using the visible light.
Patent Document 1 discloses an inspection method of a paper sheet or the like, the method including the steps of irradiating the paper sheet or the like with terahertz light with a wavelength of 50 μm to 2 mm, detecting the terahertz reflected light reflected by front and back surfaces of the sheet or the like, and detecting an intensity of an interference due to a phase difference of the detected terahertz reflected light to detect a thickness of the sheet or the like.
Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus of real-time terahertz tomography and terahertz spectral imaging, in which a technique for using a THz pulse and probe pulse light as a non-common axis and measuring a terahertz time waveform in a single shot and further irradiating an object to be measured with the THz pulse in a line condensing state and making unnecessary a scanning mechanism by using a two-dimensional imaging device as a detector with an objective of realizing a complete real-time measurement.
Patent Document 3 discloses a defect inspecting apparatus which changes the polarization axis of a polarizer according to the specific polarization axis of an object to be inspected and polarizing light from illuminating means to irradiate the object with the light and in which an analyzer aligns the polarization axis with the polarization axis of the polarizer and detects a change in penetration amount or a change in the reflection amount by optical detecting means through the transmitted light from the object or the reflected light, thereby detecting defects of the object.
Patent Document 4 discloses a surface inspecting apparatus which uses a microwave having a wavelength of 10 μm to 1 mm to detect a reflected wave from a target surface to be measured, thereby determining the surface shape of a metal.
Patent Document 5 discloses an inspection method which allows the infrared sufficiently longer in wavelength than the diameter of powder particles to pass through the inside of the power particles to thereby examine an internal structure of a subject constructed by aggregating the powder particles.
Patent Document 6 discloses an apparatus which irradiates an object to be inspected with a pulse-shaped or continuous sub terahertz electromagnetic wave having a wavelength of 600 μm to 3 mm (0.5 THz to 100 GHz), and performs an inspection of a foreign matter in powder particles by utilizing a difference in a propagation time or a difference in a transmittance due to its substance.
In Non-Patent Document 1, wavelength dependences of refractive indices and absorption coefficients of various metals, composite oxide or the like are described.

Device for detecting foreign matter and method for detecting foreign matter


An image sensor with an image area having a plurality of pixels with each pixel having a photodetector and a substrate of a first conductivity type and a first layer of a second conductivity type formed between the substrate and the photodetectors. The first layer spans the image area and is biased at predetermined potential with respect to the substrate for driving excess carriers into the substrate to reduce cross talk. One or more adjacent active electronic components can be disposed in the first layer within each pixel and electronic circuitry can be disposed in the substrate outside of the image area.

Current day active pixel image sensors are typically built on either p- or n-type silicon substrates. Active pixel sensors refer to sensors having an active circuit element such as an amplifier in, or associated with, each pixel. CMOS refers to "complimentary metal oxide silicon" transistors in which two transistors composed of opposite dopants (one of p-type and one of n-type) are wired together in a complimentary fashion. Active pixel sensors also typically use CMOS transistors, and as such, are used interchangeably.
The CMOS sensors built on p-type substrates typically contain a higher level of circuit integration on chip due to the fact that the process is derived from standard CMOS, which is already fully developed and contains all the necessary devices and circuit libraries to support this high level of integration. Unfortunately, these sensors suffer from high levels of pixel-to-pixel cross talk that results from the lateral diffusion of minority carriers within the p-type substrates on which they are built. On the other hand, CMOS image sensors built using processes derived from typical interline CCD image sensors, (wherein the focal plane is built in a p-well on an n-type substrate), have much lower cross talk due to the elimination of lateral carrier diffusion as a result of the vertical-overflow drain (VOD) structure. For these devices, color cross talk is primarily optical as limited by the transmission of the overlying CFAs.
Although there have been several recent proposals to reduce the electrical cross talk within the silicon substrates for CMOS sensors built on p-type substrates, (U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/721,168 and 60/721,175, both filed on Sep. 28, 2005), the cross talk can not be reduced low enough using these techniques for certain applications. And although a CMOS process could be developed on n-type substrates, it would require the complete re-engineering of all of the support circuitry and devices. It would also require that the AC ground plane, in this case the substrate, be biased at the VDD supply voltage, which is not desirable from a noise point of view. N-type substrates are also more difficult to getter than p-type substrates, which can result in a higher level of dark current defects.
Therefore, there exists a need within the art to provide a CMOS image sensor with reduced cross talk while maintaining all of the current advantages and level of development of existing mainstream CMOS processes.

PMOS pixel structure with low cross talk for active pixel image sensors


A printing control system A in which a printing head 7 is moved by a belt 10 coupled to a carriage drive motor 4, and a printing command signal 301 generated in response to an encoder pulse signal 501 synchronized with the revolution of the carriage drive motor 4 is applied to the printing head 7, the system A comprises a unit 1 for detecting the moving speed of the printing head 7; and units 2 and 3 for correcting timing at which the printing command signal 301 is generated, in association with both the belt expansion and contraction rate and flight time at the detected moving speed. The control system A further comprises a unit 15 for discriminating whether the printing head 7 is being accelerated or decelerated. The results discriminated by this unit 15 are given to the correcting units 2 and 3 so that the timing rate differs according to the acceleration and deceleration. In the above timing correction, a method is adopted such that the generation timing of the printing command signal 301 is delayed from the encoder pulse signal 501, irrespective of the acceleration and deceleration, by introducing the offset time having inversely proportional relationship with respect to the moving speed of the printing head 7. Further, there is incorporated therewith a unit 14 for controlling the carriage drive motor 4 in such a way that the acceleration of the printing head 7 can be changed smoothly.

FIG. 1 shows a carriage driving mechanism for an ordinary serial-dot printer, in which printing to a printing medium 13 (e.g. paper) is made by converting the rotational motion of a carriage drive motor 4 into a linear motion via a pulling member (e.g. belt) 10 and pulleys 11 so that a carriage 12 for mounting a printing head 7 can travel at a predetermined speed. Further, the positional control of the carriage 12, that is, the printing position control is effected on the basis of the output pulse of an encoder 5 mounted on the carriage drive motor 4.
FIG. 2 shows a driving pattern of the carriage drive motor 4 required when printing data for one line is printed.
In general, the printing operation is effected when the carriage 12 travels at a target constant speed. However, it is possible to realize a high speed printing if the printing operation is effected when the carriage 12 is being accelerated from a standstill to a constant speed or when being decelerated from a constant speed to a standstill.
In the serial-dot printer such as a wire dot printer in particular, however, the travel distance of the carriage 12 from when a printing command is given to when the ends of wires reach the printing medium 13 to form dots (referred to as flight time) differs according to the travel speed of the carriage 12, thus resulting in a problem in that dot intervals are not equalized when the printing operation is made under the condition that the travel speed of the carriage 12 is not kept at a constant value.
To overcome this problem, conventionally a delay time is determined according to the flight time and the carriage travel speed, and the printing command is given after the delay time has elapsed for compensation, as disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined (Kokai) Patent Appli. No 55-85984.
As another serious problem, however, there exists the influence of expansion and contraction of the pulling member, with the result that the dot intervals will not be equalized when the printing operation is effected during the acceleration or deceleration of the carriage 12.
A belt 10 is typically used as the pulling member, and the belt is usually provided with an elastic component. FIG. 3 is a simplified model view of the carriage drive mechanism, in which (a) shows the status where the carriage is driven in an ideal fashion without influence of elastic component and (b) shows the status where the carriage is accelerated in the arrow direction under influence of elastic component. In the case shown in FIG. 3(b), a torque generated by the carriage drive motor 4 is transmitted to the carriage 12 under the condition that the belt is being expanded by .DELTA.E on the travel direction side (contracted on the opposite side). On the other hand, when decelerated, a torque generated by the carriage motor 4 is transmitted to the carriage 12 under the condition that the belt is being contracted on the travel direction side (expanded on the opposite side). In the description below, the expansion and contraction of the belt 10 are discussed only on the travel direction side.
In FIG. 3, the reference numeral 502 denotes a graduation obtained by converting the encoder pulse generated by the encoder 5 for each constant revolutional angle .DELTA.r of the carriage drive motor 4 into the travel distance of the carriage 12, in which the rotational angle .DELTA.r corresponds to the travel stroke .DELTA.x of the carriage 12. In general, the printing command signals are given on the basis of the rotational angle of the carriage drive motor 4. Therefore, the printing command signals are generated on the assumption that the carriage 12 travels by .DELTA.x whenever the carriage drive motor 4 rotates through the .DELTA.r. In the conventional method, the correction has been started at this time according to the flight time and the travel speed of the carriage 12.
In the case where the carriage is driven ideally without any elastic component of the belt as shown in FIG. 3(a), the carriage 12 travels by a distance n.times..DELTA.x as illustrated, when the carriage motor 4 rotates by n.times..DELTA.r and an encoder pulse signal corresponding to the position Pn is generated. In the case where the carriage is driven under the influence of a certain elastic component of the belt as shown in FIG. 3(b), when the carriage drive motor 4 rotates by n.times..DELTA.r during acceleration and a encoder pulse corresponding to the position Pn is generated, since the belt 10 is elongated by .DELTA.E, there exists a problem in that the printed pots are offset by .DELTA.E from the correct position Pn.
If the rate of the expansion and contraction of the belt is constant, the dot intervals can be kept constant. However, since the expansion and contraction rate varies in such a way that the belt is expanded during acceleration, kept zero at a constant speed, and contracted during deceleration, the dot intervals cannot be kept constant.
As described above, there are two factors which cause the dot intervals to be unequalized when the printing operation is performed during acceleration or deceleration as follows:
* the factor caused by the flight time PA1 * the factor caused by the expansion and contraction of the pulling member PA1 * the expansion and contraction of the pulling member can be cancelled virtually by the correction according to the expansion and contraction rate of the pulling member; and PA1 * the flight time can be changed virtually according to the carriage speed by the correction according to the flight time.
Conventionally, however, since the correction has been effected only for that caused by the flight time, there still exists a problem in that the dot intervals cannot be equalized perfectly

Printing control system having means to correct flight time


The present invention provides a system for accumulating credits from a customer account belonging to the customer and managed by an institution and placing the credits into a provider account. The system includes an information processor including a data store with data identifying the customer, the rounding determinant, the managed institution, and the account. The data store includes data authorizing the processor to access and read the customer account and further includes data to calculate rounders after receiving a plurality of payment transactions from the read customer account and to calculate an excess based on the rounders. The data store also includes data to withdraw the excess from the customer account and data to transfer the withdrawn excess to the provider account.

Presently the methods and systems of creating excess funds from spending transactions have the following limitations:
(1.) Now consumers can create excess funds for future spending by making excess payments and having the excess amount assigned for future spending under very limited circumstances. Effectively consumers can tender an excess payment to a payee that they have an existing account with (e.g. utility and gas companies) and allow the excess funds to stay with the payee for the payment of future services or direct the payee to distribute the excess funds onto an outside provider, such as a charity. Under this "closed" process the payee provides an active role as to account management and selection/distribution of the excess funds for internal purposes, as well as to outside providers. Within this current arrangement the consumer has very limited opportunities to create excessive funds, as well as to determine the application of said funds, since the existing state of the art is a "closed" system essentially operated by payees with whom they have existing account relationship.
(2.) Now consumers can only create excess funds when the face amount pa id to a payee is in excess of the purchase price. In addition to the requirement for an excess payment, there is also the need for the payee to process the transaction by subtracting the amount of the purchase price from the amount tendered. Therefore, the payee is now actively involved in managing and/or distributing the consumers' excess funds.
An object of the invention is to improve the aforementioned situation.

Method and system to create and distribute excess funds from consumer spending transactions


The present invention relates to a distributed fuel system, wherein a plurality of fuel tanks used for storing fuel are distributed in different locations.. The fuel tanks are connected to each other via a manifold which permits fuel to flow therein. The distributed fuel system includes a plurality of control components interposed at predetermined points of the manifold to permit or restrict the flow of the fuel contained in the manifold in response to control signals. A method for distributing the fuel between the fuel tanks to achieve predetermined levels in each of the fuel tanks comprises the steps of determining the status and condition of the fuel system. The functions to be performed are then selected. Based on the system status and the functions to be performed, the configuration of the control elements is selected to perform the functions to be performed. The control signals are outputted to the control components to obtain the desired configuration of the control components for causing the fuel flow within the distributed fuel system to accomplish the desired functions, thereby yielding the desired fuel distribution.

This invention relates to a method of controlling fluid transfers, and more particularly, to a method for controlling fuel transfers from the fuel tanks of a distributed fuel tank system as normally found aboard an aircraft.
In an aircraft fuel system which consists of a plurality of fuel tanks, fuel lines connect the tanks to one another and to the aircraft engines. Pumps and valves (sometimes referred to herein collectively as components) are utilized to control the fuel flow, and numerous sensors are utilized throughout to monitor the system. The state (or configuration) of the control components is set to satisfy multiple criteria simultaneously. Some functions which are performed by the distributed fuel tank system are routine functions, e.g., deliver fuel to an engine. Some functions are to accommodate an abnormal condition or failure, e.g., fuel gets cold with possibility of freezing or a pump fails. Some functions are performance enhancement functions, i.e. make the aircraft operate more efficiently.
There exists a number of functions which are to be performed for a given set of conditions (i.e., climbing, on the ground, taxiing, . . . ). Further, all the functions to be performed are not necessarily compatible with one another. Thus, it is readily apparent that there can exist a situation in which some of the functions to be performed can be in "conflict" with one another, because of the limited number of resources (i.e., pumps, valves, . . . ). This "conflict" then needs to be resolved based on the current status of the aircraft, and the functions that need to be performed. Thus there exists a need to resolve the state (or sometimes referred to herein as configuration) of the pumps, valves, . . . based on the functions needed to be performed and their relative priority with the limited set of components (pumps, valves, . . . ) available. In a situation in which one fuel tank has too much fuel and another tank has too little fuel, it is desired that fuel from the one tank be transferred to the second tank such that the tanks are in balance. This situation could occur when the aircraft engines are operating or when the aircraft engines are shut down. If the situation were to occur while the engines are operating, the transfer occurs while fuel flow is maintained to the engines. Fuel tank balance is desired for a number of reasons. Maintaining the balance minimizes the stress applied to the aircraft structure. Keeping the tanks in balance assists in controlling the aircraft center of gravity, which in turn determines how efficiently the aircraft flies with the corresponding cost savings.
Present day solutions to the above identified problem are handled simply by including an additional crew member, a second officer (also known as the flight engineer), working in the cockpit to monitor the fuel system via various indicator lights and gages. At the flight engineer work station, all the switches, meters, . . . are available to permit the flight engineer to turn on/off the pumps, valves, . . . and allows the monitoring of the flow, pressures, quantities of the fuel in the system. Based on the current operating conditions, the flight engineer's knowledge of the system, and established operating procedures, the flight engineer recognizes certain conditions, e.g., the fuel tanks are out of balance. The flight engineer determines which pumps need to be turned on, which valves need to be opened, . . . in order to correct the condition. When the quantities in the tanks reach the levels desired by the flight engineer, the pumps and valves are shut down. The fuel tanks are now balanced as desired by the flight engineer. This present day system is oriented towards a human flight engineer who has detailed knowledge of the system, and extensive training and experience on how to operate the system. The flight engineer is intuitively aware of the aircraft flight regime, and is capable of interpreting all instructions from the other flight crew members or radio communications, is capable of reading and interpreting the aircraft log book, and seeks additional information and guidance from the flight crew, maintenance personnel, aircraft dispatcher, radio communications, and operating manuals when deemed necessary, and is capable of making subjective evaluations from other information available.
In order to reduce aircraft operating costs, it is desired that the crew be reduced by eliminating the flight engineer. Thus there is a need to have an automated system which performs as closely as possible the functions of the flight engineer in an automated fuel distribution system predictably, reliably, and consistently. It is understood that the use of the terms "maintaining" and "balancing" as used herein (e.g., maintaining fuel levels or balancing fuel levels in the fuel tanks) is intended to be inclusive in the overall controlling function (i.e., controlling fuel transfer) performed by the present invention.

Apparatus for controlling fuel transfers in a distributed fuel tank system


A semiconductor structure and a method for forming a semiconductor structure are provided. A sacrificial gate layer is removed to form a gate trench exposing a sacrificial dielectric layer. An ion implantation is performed to a portion of a substrate covered by the sacrificial dielectric layer in the gate trench. The sacrificial dielectric layer is removed to expose the substrate from the gate trench. An interfacial layer is formed over the substrate in the gate trench. A metal gate structure is formed over the interfacial layer in the gate trench.

Electronic equipment involving semiconductor devices is essential for many modern applications. Technological advances in materials and design have produced generations of semiconductor devices, in which each generation includes smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. This scaling down process has also increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs and, for these advances to be realized, similar developments in IC processing and manufacturing are needed. For example, a three dimensional transistor, such as a fin-type field-effect transistor (FinFET), has been introduced to replace a planar transistor. Although existing FinFET devices and methods of fabricating FinFET devices have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects. For example, replacing a polysilicon gate electrode with a metal gate electrode raises challenges in a FinFET process development. It is desired to have improvements in this area.

Semiconductor structure and method for forming thereof

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.


Methods and systems for preemption in a network having a core device with at least one egress interface are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes performing flow-based hash utilizing a plurality of hash-buckets each set to a first state or a second state and computing a load based on a rate measurement that excludes flows which hash into hash-buckets having a state set to the second state. The computed load is compared to a preemption threshold and if the computed load exceeds the preemption threshold, the state of at least one of the hash-buckets is changed from the first state to the second state. An action, such as dropping all packets or marking all packets, is performed on flows hashing in a hash-bucket in the second state.

The present disclosure relates generally to preemption in a computer network.
The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) is investigating the area of stateless or reduced-state admission control for real-time inelastic traffic. (See, B. Briscoe et al., "An edge-to-edge Deployment Model for Pre-Congestion Notification Admission Control over a DiffServ Region", IETF draft-briscoe-tsvwg-cl-architecture-04.txt, Oct. 25, 2006 and A. Bader, "RMD-QOSM—The Resource Management in Diffserv QOS Model", draft-ietf-nsis-rmd-07.txt, Jun. 23, 2006). One of the challenges related to stateless (as well as stateful) Call Admission Control (CAC) is that occasional topology changes (e.g., in response to a link or node failure) may result in bypassing the CAC completely as routing redirects the traffic to a different path than it was admitted to originally. This can lead to severe congestion that could last for a potentially long time. In these circumstances, links which normally operate under their engineered load due to admission control become suddenly overloaded. As a result, all real-time flows sharing a congested link can become affected and suffer possibly severe QoS (Quality of Service) degradation. If these flows are voice flows, for example, then such QoS degradation may result in all, or many users on the link eventually hanging up and dropping their connection if substantial service degradation lasts longer than a few seconds. It is, therefore, desirable to have a mechanism which will selectively preempt some number of flows to alleviate congestion, restoring the necessary level of QoS to the other flows. This mechanism is referred to as Preemption or Severe Congestion Handling in the above-referenced IETF drafts. It is desirable that such preemption is done on a per-flow basis rather than per-packet as much as possible, to prevent a degradation of service to all flows involved in congestion.
Similar problems may arise not only with networks running an admission control mechanism, but also in networks that use bandwidth provisioning based on the knowledge of the traffic matrix. For example, if real time traffic is using EF PHB (Expedited Forwarding Per-Hop Behavior) and the network is properly provisioned in the absence of failure as well as under some expected failure scenario, an unexpected link, node or SRLG (Shared Risk Link Group) failure or an unexpected combination of those may result in a sudden overload of some links, causing QoS service degradation. Preemption is also useful in networks which do run admission control in cases where there is an unexpected traffic surge.
Hence, regardless of the presence or lack of bandwidth reservations under normal, non-failure conditions, the possibility of failures (without full bandwidth protection of those failures as is commonly the case in packet networks) results in a need for a mechanism that allows preemption of a set of flows while allowing the rest of the flows to maintain their QoS guarantee. There are two solutions that have been proposed in the above-referenced IETF drafts. However, both of these solutions require a per-ingress-egress estimate of congestion at the egress edge to determine the correct amount of traffic to drop, and policing of these schemes presents a serious challenge.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.


Surveying system for measuring the position of a measuring point on the ground is disclosed. The surveying system may include a survey pole with a body having a pointer tip for contacting the measuring point and position giving means for making available the coordinative determination of a referenced position, being placed on the body with a defined spatial relationship relative to the tip. Determination means may be included for repeatedly determining the referenced position of the position giving means. Evaluation means may also be included for deriving the position of the measuring point. In some embodiments, the survey pole may also include an inertial measuring unit placed on the body with a defined spatial relationship relative to the position giving means.

In survey applications using GNSS equipment, the measurement taken by the GNSS receiver does not directly correspond to the target point to be surveyed; rather, it is a position measurement of the so-called "phase-centre" of the GNSS antenna. Current practice is to mount the antenna on a pole and ensure the pole is perfectly vertical over the point of interest and compensate the position for the length of the pole. Levelling the pole, however, takes time and it would be desirable to take measurements of the target position without the need to level the pole.
In this document, a method is detailed for the accurate compensation of the tilt of the pole using a fusion of relatively low-cost inertial sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes) and GNSS measurements. It has advantages over other disclosed methods as the inertial sensors are of substantially lower cost and sensor errors are explicitly estimated at run-time.
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) are now routinely used in surveying applications with the use of Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) algorithms, which correct for a receiver's position using information from one or more nearby base station(s).
The position measured by the GNSS receiver is at the so-called "phase centre" of the GNSS antenna, which for a high-quality survey antenna is a well-quantified location generally near the mechanical centre of the antenna. However, the location of interest to the surveyor is not at the antenna, but at a point on the ground; the antenna is usually mounted on a pole to optimise the reception of GNSS signals.
Unless the pole is perfectly upright with respect to the ground, the horizontal position of the antenna will be offset compared to the location on the ground of interest. A levelling device, whether a traditional spirit level or a more sophisticated arrangement of sensors, can be used to determine if a pole is upright to some degree of tolerance sufficient to take a measurement. Alternatively, if one can precisely measure the angular orientation (the "attitude") of the pole, this error can be compensated for, assuming one knows the length of the pole.
Measuring the angle of the pole with respect to the ground is not a trivial exercise. Whilst measuring the angle of the pole from the vertical (the pitch and roll) can be accurately achieved through a number of methods (notably, measurement of local gravity using accelerometers or inclinometers), measuring the orientation of the pole with respect to True North (the yaw or azimuth) is considerably more difficult.
The most obvious way to achieve a measurement of azimuth is with the use of an electronic compass, which is able to measure orientation with respect to Magnetic North. However, aside from the offset between Magnetic North and True North, the compass reading can also be affected by magnetic field disturbances such as ferrous metals and electric currents, both of which are common around some building sites. To avoid these drawbacks, another method of determining the yaw is desirable.
When installed in a conventional land vehicle such as a car, the azimuth angle is able to be inferred from the GNSS velocity, since the vehicle is normally aligned with the direction of travel. However, since a pole-mounted antenna may move in an arbitrary direction, GNSS velocity is not a reliable means of azimuth determination.
When stationary, high-grade inertial sensors are capable of measuring the Earth's rotation rate, which may then be used for finding north. When using high-quality gyroscopes ("gyros"), a procedure known as "gyro compassing" can be used whilst stationary to determine north by comparing the measured rotation rate in each axis.
Once an initial position and attitude is known, a high-quality INS can navigate without reference to GNSS or other external measurements, making it useful for survey applications when GPS is unavailable. This is described, for instance in US 2009 024 325 A1 which describes an INS used in a surveying application with a GNSS solution being unavailable. However, as an inertial navigation solution mathematically rotates and integrates the raw inertial sensor measures, small errors will accumulate and the position solution (and azimuth solution, which must be maintained as a by-product) will drift without bound.
The drift problem of an INS has been studied extensively for some time. The drift in the position and attitude solution (and thereby the means to compensate for pole tilt) can be contained by intelligently fusing GNSS or other external measurements with an inertial navigation system—the so-called "Aided Inertial Navigation System" (AINS)—which has long existed in the aerospace industry and is now used in surveying applications.
Whilst high-quality "navigation grade" and "tactical grade" inertial sensors—navigation grade refers to sensors that can be useful for standalone navigation for many hours, e.g. including Ring Laser Gyroscopes (RLG), whereas tactical grade generally refers to navigation requirements for short flights, e.g. including Fibre Optic Gyroscopes (FOG)—are undoubtedly useful in determining position and attitude (whether GNSS aided or otherwise), they are also very expensive, heavy, bulky and suffer from high power consumption. In contrast, the last decade or so has seen the rise of inertial sensors based on MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Sensors) technology, which have substantially lower performance in comparison with traditional high-grade devices, but have the advantage of being small, low-power lightweight, and more than an order of magnitude less expensive than high-grade inertial sensors. MEMS inertial sensors are now routinely integrated into low-accuracy consumer applications such as games console controllers and mobile phones. MEMS sensors are normally of "consumer grade" or "industrial grade", though some high-end silicon MEMS may also be considered as tactical grade. Consumer grade refers to cheap sensors having coarse motion sensing for applications such as shock detection, free-fall detection, mobile phones or computer games controllers. Industrial grade refers to sensors that are useful for applications where some degree of motion sensing precision is required, such as manufacturing robots, machine control, automotive electronic stability, hill-start assistance and entry-level Attitude and Heading Reference Systems (AHRS).
MEMS sensors, like many integrated circuit technologies, have substantially improved in performance over time. Although they presently remain unsuitable for standalone inertial navigation, they may be fused with GNSS measurements in a similar fashion to a high-grade AINS solution to maintain an attitude solution of sufficient accuracy to compensate for the tilt of a survey pole. Furthermore, the combination of GNSS and INS is greater than the sum of its parts-intelligent integration of the two allow for the most substantial errors that exist in MEMS inertial sensors to be estimated and removed.
The drawback of using MEMS devices is that it relies on a good-quality GNSS solution to be available, which is generally the case for many surveying and related activities such as stake-out. Usually, more than a few seconds without a GNSS solution will cause the attitude to drift out of tolerance, depending on the grade of sensor. Generally, a high-quality position is required survey applications and therefore attitude drift during GNSS outages is usually not problematic. Once a GNSS reacquired, a smaller drift will speed up re-convergence of the attitude solution. It is up to the designer to make the trade-off between stability and cost.
Attitude may be interpreted as a combination of three different rotations-roll, which (when related to an aircraft) is "wings up, wings down"; pitch, which is "nose up, nose down" and yaw, which corresponds to the heading that the platform is pointing. Classically, pitch and roll are observed through measurements of the local gravity vector (which induce an acceleration measurement on the accelerometers) and yaw is observed through the use of a magnetic compass.
Whilst in prior art—for example in US 2003 046 003 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,905 A, EP 2 040 029 A1, EP 1 726 915 A1 and JP 2005 043 088 A—an accelerometer ("tilt sensor") and compass has been used previously to compensate for the tilt of a pole, it is limited by the accuracy of the sensors and subject to local magnetic field disturbances. For example, a typical MEMS accelerometer may be four degrees or more in error without careful factory calibration, which is unacceptable for survey applications. Furthermore, without a high-fidelity and computationally expensive magnetic model, even the local declination angle (the angle between true north and magnetic north) may be in error by up to three degrees, even without any local disturbing fields caused by (for example) cars and power lines.
When inertial sensor measurements are intelligently combined with GPS, both the yaw angle (even without the aid of a magnetic compass) and sensor errors causing the errors in pitch and roll may be estimated when subjected to particular motion conditions. In particular yaw angle, generally considered to be the hardest to estimate, has been shown in the academic literature to converge towards its true value when the inertial sensors are subjected to changes in acceleration in the horizontal plane, which is often the case during a surveying operations. The situation is further complicated for MEMS devices, which have significant errors compared to high-grade devices. In high-grade sensors, bias errors on the vertical gyro are naturally observable through the rotation of the Earth. In MEMS devices, the signal caused the Earth's rotation is buried in noise and bias. Therefore, MEMS will require more aggressive manoeuvring to make yaw observable, but the basic fact that it is observable under motion is unchanged.
With this observation in mind, it can be noted that a magnetic compass is not strictly necessary for the estimation of yaw (and therefore can be removed if cost is a concern), but may still be used for a coarse initialisation of yaw or to provide supplementary measurements if the yaw has drifted due to the lack of motion for some time.
The notation used in this document is as follows:
An identity matrix of size k is denoted by Ik. The rotation matrix from the a-frame to the b-frame is denoted by Rab.
αabc denotes a vector quantity α of the b-frame with respect to the a-frame, expressed in terms of the c-frame.
[A]x is a skew-symmetric matrix constructed from vector A such that when multiplied by vector B the result is equivalent to the cross-product of A and B, viz [A]xB=A×B.
Time derivatives of a quantity are expressed using the dot notation (e.g. {dot over (ω)}abc), estimated quantities (as distinct from their true values) are denoted with a hat (e.g. {circumflex over (ω)}abc).
In this document, the b-frame is the body fixed frame, the n-frame is an earth-fixed local tangent frame (north, east, down), the e-frame is the Earth-Centred Earth-Fixed (ECEF) frame and the i-frame is the Earth-Centred Inertial (ECI) frame.
The GPS/INS estimates a position at the reference point of INS, rebe. The position on the ground at the end of the pole, repe, is desired. Since the offset of the INS reference point from the tip of the pole, rbpb, is known (i.e. the pole length and the location of the INS reference point on the end of the pole), one may calculate the point at the tip of the pole using:repe=Rberbpb+rebe
Key to the accurate compensation of tilt is the attitude estimate. Clearly, any errors in attitude will couple onto errors at the ground point.
The observation of attitude and sensor errors relies on comparing the difference between the GPS position and the INS position. GPS velocity may also be used. Under motion, position errors coupled in from attitude errors can be indirectly separated. Note that an INS must maintain an accurate representation of attitude as a by-product of calculating a position solution.
Integrated GPS/INS navigation systems have long been used in the aerospace domain, owing the complementary characteristics of the two navigation sources. As such, multiple textbooks have been published on the subject which recommend a so-called loosely-coupled error-state system, for instance Robert M. Rogers: Applied Mathematics in Integrated Navigation Systems. AIAA Education, 3rd edition, 2007.
There are several components in the integration architecture:    1. An Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), comprising three accelerometers, three gyroscopes in a nominally orthogonal configuration, associated support circuitry for signal acquisition, pre-processing, time synchronisation and deterministic error removal;    2. The Inertial Navigation System (INS) mechanisation, which mathematically rotates and integrates the accelerations and rotation rate measurements from the IMU to estimate the position and attitude;    3. A GPS receiver, measuring position and velocity of the antenna;    4. A Kalman Filter, which estimates the errors of position, errors in velocity, errors in attitude, gyro biases and accelerometer biases, based on the error dynamics of the system and observed difference between the GPS and INS positions; and    5. Optionally, a two- or three-axis magnetometer for measuring the Earth's magnetic field.
The key feature of the classic loosely-coupled error-state estimator is the linearization of the dynamics, which allows the use of a linear Kalman Filter. The major drawback of using such an architecture is the assumption that the errors are small and hence the error introduced by linearization is negligible. Whilst this might be true using high-quality sensors and a specific initialisation procedure, surveying applications (and especially construction surveying) is significantly more cost sensitive than the aerospace domain and hence estimation methods designed for high-quality sensors are not necessarily applicable to lower-cost MEMS inertial sensors described in the introduction. In particular, the small error assumption results in poor performance when using low-cost sensors. It is inherently clear that a better estimator is required for use with low-cost sensors.
In particular, the standard methods of GPS/INS integration, as for instance disclosed in US 2009 024 325 A1, have insufficient performance to reliably determine the attitude of the pole when using industrial-grade sensors. Therefore, these methods are fundamentally not viable for industrial grade sensors.


A collision detecting method for detecting a collision of a vehicle on the basis of an acceleration signal produced by an acceleration sensor. A reduction in the amount of speed of the vehicle due to the collision from an acceleration signal is estimated by an acceleration signal from the acceleration sensor and by a rate of time variation in the acceleration signal, and the collision of the vehicle is detected when the amount of deceleration exceeds a predetermined value. In addition, the collision of the vehicle is detected, when an integration value resulting from an integration of the acceleration signal over a first period of time exceeds a predetermined value, and when a differentiation value of the acceleration signal exceeds a predetermined value. The collision detecting method can be used to operate a collision safety device (such as, an air bag system and a belt retracting system) within an extremely short time after occurrence of the collision.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to vehicle collision detecting methods by which a collision safety device (such as, an air bag system and a belt retracting system) is properly started.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an air bag system for protecting an occupant from a secondary collision damage upon collision of a vehicle, if only an acceleration signal which an acceleration sensor outputs as a starting or triggering signal for the air bag system is used, there is a possibility that a starting signal may be outputted when a small object which will not substantially damage a vehicle body collides against a portion of the vehicle near where the acceleration sensor is located. Therefore, means for preventing this is required.
Further, the air bag system is required to be operated not only when a collision with a large shock occurs, but also when a collision with a small but continuously long shock occurs. In such a case, however, there is a possibility that the starting signal may not be produced by the acceleration sensor and hence, means for compensating for this is required.
In order to avoid the above-discussed problems, a collision detecting method has been proposed having the step of calculating a speed found by integration of an acceleration produced by an acceleration sensor (i.e., a secondary collision speed at which an occupant moves, for example, toward a steering wheel under an action of an inertia due to a collision) so that if the secondary collision speed exceeds a predetermined value, a starting signal for an air bag system is produced (see, Japanese Patent Publication No. 8574/84).
In the above-described conventional method, however, when a collision with a small and continuously long shock occurs, a fairly long time may lapse from an instant of collision until the starting signal for the air bag system is produced; thereby, resulting in a possibility of some deviation in the timing for the start of the air bag system.

Vehicle collision detecting method employing an acceleration sensor


Provided is s a method for a base station to allocate a time interval resource to transceive a downlink data channel (PDSCH) or an uplink data channel (PUSCH). The method include allocating a time interval resource for each OFDM symbol on the basis of a slot or a mini-slot, transmitting, to a terminal, time interval resource configuration information including OFDM symbol allocation data for OFDM symbols used for data channel transception in the slot or the mini-slot, and transmitting, to the terminal, control information selecting one of the symbol allocation data included in the time interval resource configuration information.

Recently, the 3GPP has approved the "Study on New Radio Access Technology", which is a study item for research on next-generation/5G radio access technology. On the basis of the Study on New Radio Access Technology, Radio Access Network Working Group 1 (RAN WG1) has been discussing frame structures, channel coding and modulation, waveforms, multiple access methods, and the like for the new radio (NR). It is required to design the NR not only to provide an improved data transmission rate as compared with the long term evolution (LTE)/LTE-Advanced, but also to meet various requirements in detailed and specific usage scenarios.
In particular, an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communication (mMTC), and ultra reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) are proposed as representative usage scenarios of the NR. In order to meet the requirements of the individual scenarios, it is required to design the NR to have flexible frame structures, compared with the LTE/LTE-Advanced.
In the typical LTE/LTE-A system, the allocation of an uplink/downlink data resource has been performed on a resource block (RB) basis in the frequency axis and on a subframe basis in the time axis.
Thus, in a downlink subframe, a UE receives downlink data through all OFDM symbols except for a control region for PDCCH transmission. In an uplink subframe, the UE transmits uplink data through all SC-FDMA symbols of the uplink subframe, or all SC-FDMA symbols except for the last symbol in case a SRS is configured.
In this regard, in the NR, discussions have been conducted for allocating a time-domain resource as well as a frequency resource as a scheduling resource for an uplink/downlink data channel.

Method and device for allocating data channel resource for next-generation wireless access network


Processed oats having a remarkably decreased viscosity when dispersed in hot water or boiling water, a method of preparing the same, and a food and beverage containing the same are disclosed. The processed oats may be prepared by contacting pressed oats with water or an aqueous protein solution and then drying the oats. The contacting of oats with the aqueous protein solution may be carried out before the pressing of the oats.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to new processed oats, especially to new processed oats having a remarkably decreased viscosity when the oats are dispersed in hot water or boiling water, to a method of preparing the same, and to a food and beverage containing the same.
Since the processed oats of the present invention have a remarkably decreased viscosity when the oats are formed into liquid, and further have a decreased oats odor, a decreased turbidity of the solution, and a decreased stickiness of oat grains produced when the oats are bitten, it is useful as a new oat material having new physical properties.
2. Prior Arts
Oats are known as a cereal food which is rich in proteins and minerals. Further, the oats have a large amount of dietary fibers and thus the oats have been used as an ideal cereal food for breakfast in European and American countries.
With regard to the oats, a therapeutical effect on constipation as an action of dietary fiber contained in oats (Burkitt D. P., Cancer, vol.28, p.3, 1971), and an decreasing effect on serum cholesterol value (Fadel J. G., Newman R. K., Newman C. W. and Barnes A. E., Nutr.Rep.Int., vol.35, p.1049, 1987; Shinnick F. L., Ink S. L. and Marlett J. A., J.Nutr., vol.120, P.561, 1990) etc. have been reported. Moreover, the inhibiting effect on cholesterol as an action of phytic acid contained in oats is also known. Thus the oats can be regarded as a highly estimated food from the viewpoints of nutritional science and physiology.
The oats have a composition comprising approx. 64% of carbohydrates, 11% of proteins, 9% of fats, 2.2% of soluble dietary fibers and 5.6% of insoluble dietary fibers (Oda Y., Aoe S. and Nakaoka M. et al., Nippon Eiyo Shokuryo Gakkaishi, vol.41, p.449, 1988). The oats, as the characteristics thereof, have a very high viscosity when dissolved in water, and a peculiar clinging stickiness. As a causative material for the stickiness of oats, .beta.-glucan is known. The .beta.-glucan contained in oats is approximately 3% (Wood P. J., Paton D., and Siddiqui I. R., Cereal Chem., Vol.54, p.524, 1976). Further, as the other causative material for the stickiness of oats, amylopectin and the like are known. These carbohydrates are stable against heat and the structures thereof are hardly changed.
The stickiness of oats are preferred as a characteristic of oats, and have been used as a food or a binding agent and thickening agent. However, on the other hand, there are people who hate the peculiar stickiness of oats. Thus a variety of forms of oats products have been developed so that the people could take oats.
For examples, there are disclosed that oats are treated by frying so as to obtain cakes or snacks for the purpose of obtaining oats flakes (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No.63-17421, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No.4-18815), and that oat raw grains are treated with an acid, steamed, and oils are added, and the grains are dried and pressed for the purpose of pregelatinizing the oats completely (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.59-130147, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-130148, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-130149).

Processed oats and a method of preparing the same


A method for generating a flow profile of a wellbore whereby a first measurement and a second measurement are collected for each point of a sequence of selected points along the wellbore. For each respective point in the sequence of points, the arithmetic difference between the first and second measurements collected for the respective point is calculated, and the summation of the arithmetic differences for the respective point and for each point which follows the respective point in the sequence of points is recorded. A flow profile of the wellbore is generated by plotting the value of the summations calculated for each point of the sequence of points, wherein the magnitude of the potential productive flow from that point in the wellbore, is substantially proportional to the magnitude of the slope of the profile corresponding to that point.

Natural gas production can be undesirable in wellbores in many oil and gas fields, such as those of the North Slope of Alaska. Such natural gas production can be particularly problematic in horizontal wells. Even when a horizontal wellbore is located a hundred feet below the gas-oil contact (GOC), undesirable gas production often still occurs. Possible sources of such gas production include channeling through a casing/borehole annulus when there is poor cement isolation, coning through higher permeability sections of the reservoir, suction of gas through permeable fault planes, or some combination thereof.
Production log flow profiles provide a valuable tool to evaluate well and reservoir performance, and to identify and eliminate undesirable gas production. Beginning with an analysis of the well's initial completion efficiency, downhole flow profiles provide zonal production allocation and analysis of break-through and coning events and are also used to check the mechanical integrity of completions. Production log surveys are commonly run to diagnose problems when anomalies in surface production rates are noticed. In such cases, the survey results are used to plan remedial actions to eliminate gas production and bring the well back to its optimum producing efficiency.
Production log flow profiles are generated using a conventional production logging tool string which typically includes spinner, capacitance, fluid density, temperature, and pressure sensors. The spinner is used to measure the total velocity of the fluid mixture; the capacitance and density sensors are used to determine the instantaneous holdups of water, oil, and gas; and the temperature sensor is used to identify fluid entries. To correctly interpret a flow profile from these sensors, the measured velocity must be converted to flow rate and individual velocities for each phase must be determined. While correlations for these interpretations are well understood in vertical wells, such correlations become less reliable as the angle of the well trajectory from vertical increases. Horizontal wells, thus, represent an extreme challenge for conventional production log interpretation.
The foregoing problems with interpreting production log flow profiles are further complicated by phase segregation, which can cause extreme fluctuations in spinner response, and minor trajectory deviations which generate widely changing individual phase velocities. Additionally, in horizontal wells having slotted liners, fluids can flow both inside the slotted liner and in the annulus between the liner and the openhole, resulting in variations in fluid velocity as the fluid enters and exits the slotted liner. Still further, restrictions inside the slotted liner can also cause erroneously high fluid velocities. Because the fluid velocity may vary as the fluid flows through the liner and/or the annulus rather than from the reservoir, the velocity sensed by the spinner may or may not reflect fluid flow from the reservoir, resulting in erroneous spinner counts and, consequently, erroneous flow rate interpretations.
In addition to conventional production logs, pulsed neutron capture (PNC) logs have been used to monitor gas, to detect cement channeling, and to locate gas and water entry by measuring thermal neutron capture cross-sections, such as sigma (.SIGMA.) formation, sigma (.SIGMA.) borehole, and porosity (e.g., thermal PNC porosity, or "TPHI"). In cement channel detection, for example, a PNC log is used to measure the formation sigma through a wellbore as a base pass. Then a high-capture cross-section solution, such as a saturate sodium borate solution, i.e. borax, is injected into the wellbore as a tracer to detect cement channels, and the sigma of the wellbore is measured again. Because the capture cross-section of borax is much higher than the capture cross-section of fresh water or oil, it produces a strong signature in the sigma measurements where the borax solution is injected. The sigma measurements made before and after the injection of the borax are overlaid, and the difference, or separation, between the measurements is used to detect the tracer in the cement channels. While the presence of separation is used as an indication of cement channels, the magnitude of the separation has not been evaluated.
While conventional PNC logs provide a measure of the porosity and sigma of a formation, they do not provide a direct measure of the permeability of a formation which is necessary to assess the flow profile and potential productivity of a wellbore.
Therefore, what is needed is a method for generating a flow profile of a wellbore from pulsed neutron logs which may be reliably interpreted to determine the flow profile of a wellbore, particularly of a horizontal wellbore having a slotted liner completion, and to determine from the flow profile, the flow rate and individual velocities for each phase of fluid flowing through the wellbore.

Method for generating a flow profile of a wellbore from pulsed neutron logs


An intervertebral implant system for positioning between an upper vertebra and a lower vertebra is provided. The implant system comprises an intervertebral implant and a staple. The implant comprises an inferior plate and a superior plate, while the superior plate has a vertebral surface facing the upper vertebra and the inferior plate has a vertebral surface facing the lower vertebra. There are two grooves on at least one vertebral surface extending at an angle outward from a centerline on the vertebral surface as they extend from the anterior portion of the plate toward the posterior portion of the plate. When in use, the staple is associated with the two grooves for maintaining stability of the intervertebral implant and preventing backing out of the intervertebral implant. The staple also has two arms and has a generally rectangular shape prior to use.

The human spine is a biomechanical structure with thirty-three vertebral members, and is responsible for protecting the spinal cord, nerve roots and internal organs of the thorax and abdomen. The spine also provides structural support for the body while permitting flexibility of motion. A significant portion of the population will experience back pain at some point in their lives resulting from a spinal condition. The pain may range from general discomfort to disabling pain that immobilizes the individual. Back pain may result from a trauma to the spine, be caused by the natural aging process, or may be the result of a degenerative disease or condition. Similarly, neck pain may occur in related ways, i.e., from injury, aging or disease.
The intervertebral disc functions to stabilize the spine and to distribute forces between vertebral bodies. A normal disc includes a gelatinous nucleus pulposus, an annulus fibrosis and two vertebral end plates. The nucleus pulposus is surrounded and confined by the annulus fibrosis.
It is known that intervertebral discs are prone to injury and degeneration. For example, herniated discs are common, and typically occur when normal wear, or exceptional strain, causes a disc to rupture. Degenerative disc disease typically results from the normal aging process, in which the tissue gradually looses its natural water and elasticity, causing the degenerated disc to shrink and possibly to rupture. These conditions often are treated with the use of intervertebral implants.
In particular, areas of the cervical spine and the lumbar spine are particularly prone to the need for intervertebral implants, or artificial disc implants because they are areas where the spine is particularly dynamic. Thus, the implants that are used often are dynamic or motion-preserving implants. There are challenges, however, with dynamic implants and when there are problems, comes poor performance. For example, maintaining the stability of dynamic implants in the disc space, or merely preventing such dynamic implants from backing-out of the disc space after they are surgically inserted are some such challenges.
There, therefore, is a need to increase the stability of dynamic implants in the disc space and also a need to prevent backing-out of such devices after they have been implanted. Further, there is a need to do so without the use of anchors or flanges on the disc and the need for extra preparation of the endplates of the vertebrae for such extra features.


This invention relates to a conjugate, comprising a saccharide and one or more therapeutic or diagnostic agents, as well as the use of the conjugate. The conjugate of the present invention may be used for diagnosing cancer or viral diseases. The conjugate of the present invention may also be used to prevent and/or treat neurological diseases.

The present invention relates to saccharide conjugates and their use.
In general, many agents, particularly those serving for cancer treatment and those which shall reach certain organs and the cells thereof, e.g. brain, neurons, gliacytes, astrogliacytes and non-neuronal cells, are accompanied by the problem that they are poorly transported to their site of action and thus have considerable side-effects.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide a product by which agents of the most varying kinds can be transported in well-calculated fashion to their site of action, so that their side-effects can be reduced.
According to the invention this is achieved by the subject matters defined in the claims.
Thus, the subject matter of the present invention relates to a conjugate, comprising a saccharide and one or more agents.
The present invention is based upon the applicant""s finding that xcex2-D-glucose isophosphoramide has good anti-tumor properties and extremely low side-effects as compared to cyclophosphoramide and isophosphoramide. Furthermore, he has found that xcex2-D-glucose isophosphoramide reaches the tumor cells by means of site-directed transport. For this transport, a glucose transporter has proved to be essential.
On the basis of the above findings, conjugates were developed which have one or more agents bonded to a saccharide, particularly a monosaccharide, disaccharide or oligosaccharide. Particularly glucose, more particularly D-glucose, galactose, mannose, arabinose, xylose, fucose, rhamnose, 2-amino-2-deoxyglucose, 2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose, N-acetyl-2-amino-2-deoxyglucose, N-acetyl-2-amino-2-deoxy-galactose, digitoxose and 2-amino-2-deoxygalactose have to be mentioned as monosaccharide. Suitable disaccharides are particularly maltose, lactose or gentiobiose, either 1,4-linked or 1,6-linked. Particularly a linear and branched, e.g. di-, tri-, especially N,Nxe2x80x2-di-2-chloroethyl-(3,6-di-O-(xcex2-D-glucopyranosyl)-xcex2-D-glucopyranosyl)-phosphoric ester diamide, and tetraantennary oligosaccharide have to be mentioned as oligosaccharide.
Every therapeutically and/or diagnostically usable substances are in consideration as agents. These are particularly:
antioxidants, e.g. cysteine, N-acetylcysteine, xcex1-tocopherol (vitamin E), probucol, xcex1-lipoic acid, limonene (perillic acid), xanthines, carotenoids and nitrons, antirheumatics antiallergics, antianemic agents, antibiotics, e.g. sulfonamides, antidiabetics, antiemetics, antihistaminics, antiepileptics, xcex2-receptor blockers, calcium antagonists, ACE inhibitors, bronchodilating agents, antiasthmatics, cholinergics, corticoids, dermatics, diuretics, enzyme inhibitors, remedies for gout, remedies for influenza, sedative agents, immunotherapeutic agents, hepato-therapeutic agents, antilipemics, remedies for migraine, muscle relaxants, anesthetics, neuropathy preparations, antihyperkinetic agents, psychoactive drugs, thyreo-therapeutic agents, sex hormones and their inhibitors, antispasmodic agents, vitamins, wound treating agents, analgesics, e.g. indomethacin, paracetamol, ibuprofen and acetylsalicylic acid, cimetidine, oncotherapeutic agents, e.g. cyclophosphoramide, isophosphoramide, cisplatin complexes, antimetabolites, such as methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil deoxyribonucleoside, and topoisomerase inhibitors such as mitoxanthrone, tumor diagnostic agents, radiosensitizers, e.g. misonidazole, inhibitors of DNA repair, e.g. O6-benzyldeoxyguanosine, xcex1-sympathicomimetics, e.g. L-dopa and dopamine, nucleic acids, e.g. oligonucleotides, and anti-AIDS agents, such as azidothymidine, dideoxyinositol and dideoxycytidine.
The linkage between the saccharide and the agent or agents may be present as usual. It is favorable when there is at least a linkage via the 1-position of the saccharide. This includes the advantage that at the site of action, i.e. in the cell, the agent linked via the 1-position of the saccharide is cleaved enzymatically and released.
In a preferred embodiment of the conjugate according to the invention, the saccharide is linked at least with one agent via a common linker. Suitable linkers are particularly diols, more particularly short-chain diols from 1,2-diol, e.g. ethylene glycol, to 1,6-hexanediol.
Conjugates according to the invention accumulate in cells, organs and tissues which have glucose transporters and/or related transporters thereof. The conjugates accumulate particularly in the liver, kidney, heart, thymus, thyroid gland, intestines, and brain as well as in all kinds of tumors.
Therefore, conjugates according to the invention are especially suitable for treating neurologic diseases, such as Alzheimer""s disease, apoplexy, Parkinson""s disease and other dementia diseases. For this purpose, it is favorable when the conjugates contain antioxidants as agent. These agents prevent that in aerobic cells an incomplete reaction of oxygen takes place in the mitochondrial electron-transport chain and thus superoxide radicals, hydroxyl peroxides or hydroxyl radicals being released into the cytosol, which may cause apoptosis. In the case of apoplexy and other arteriosclerotic diseases, especially the oxidation of LDL particles into lipid peroxides, which represent a critical occurrence with the formation of arteriosclerotic plaques, is inhibited by the administration of andioxidants. When Parkinson""s disease is treated, the use of L-dopa or dopamine as agent has also proved its value.
Conjugates according to the invention, which contain antioxidants as agents, are also suitable for treating cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, inflammations, particularly rheumatic arthritis, inflammatory intestinal diseases and pancreatitis, high-blood pressure and pulmonary diseases, e.g. idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and cystic fibrosis, AIDS-caused apoptosis of CD4-T cells, arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis, ischemia, cataract as well as multiple sclerosis. Furthermore, such conjugates are also suited for the prevention of the above-mentioned diseases, particularly arteriosclerotic diseases and Alzheimer""s disease.
In addition, when they contain corresponding agents, conjugates according to the invention can be used successfully for treating and/or diagnosing tumors. Examples of therapeutically usable agents are cyclo-phosphoramide and isophosphoramide. Furthermore, particularly radiosensitizers such as misonidazole have to be mentioned which result in a tumor-specific enhancement of a radiotherapy and/or photodynamic treatment. Moreover, particularly inhibitors of DNA repair such as O6 benzyl deoxyguanosine have to be mentioned. These agents contribute to the tumor-specific reduction of the DNA repair capacity and thus to the improvement of a treatment by alkylating tumor-chemotherapeutic agents. Conjugates containing antioxidants are also suitable for tumor treatment and the prevention of tumor diseases. As explained above, these agents serve for stopping the formation of free radicals which are known to result in cellular injury and promote degeneration of cells. Thus, conjugates having antioxidants may also be used for protecting healthy cells in the case of chemotherapies and radiation therapies. In addition, the most recent applicant""s results refer to the fact that when inventive conjugates containing oncotherapeutic agents are administered, much less resistance is developed than upon administration of oncotherapeutic agents alone.
Moreover, conjugates according to the invention, which contain nucleic acids, e.g. oligonucleotides, as agents, are suitable for diagnosis and/or treatment of genetic defects, particularly those which are organ-specific.
Besides, conjugates according to the invention can also be used for controlling pathogens of any kind, which have a glucose transporter or a transporter related thereto. Such pathogens are especially viruses, bacteria and protozoan organisms. Thus, conjugates according to the invention are also suited for treating diseases caused by such pathogens, e.g. viral infections, particularly AIDS.

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